Across Space and Time
by Lumendea
Summary: Third in the Dimensions of the Universe series! Rose and the Doctor keep on traveling but trouble is just around the corner! Who is this Donna in the wedding dress? Why does a spaceship connect to France? What is the Beast and what is the Master planning?
1. The Runaway Bride I

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter One: The Runaway Bride I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Welcome all to the third installment of the Dimensions of the Universe series! Your reviews made this series happen so please continue your support.

The church was just as it should be on the day of wedding, light coming in through the elegant windows, guest eagerly waiting for the bride and music filling the air. At the back of the church a woman stepped out into view with her father, ready to give her away. She smiled nervously as the guest took her in but happiness radiated from her. At the front of the church her tall, black husband to be took a deep breath and turned in time to see her begin to glow. Guest muttered as the glow increased until she screamed and vanished in a cloud of golden particles.

The Doctor grinned at Rose, relishing in the smile that had returned to her face. Ever since they had left Jack behind on Marinar Minor she had been worrying about him and distracted. If he didn't know from Rose herself that she thought of Jack as a brother he might have been jealous, might have been. At the current moment, however Rose was standing in the open doorway of the TARDIS taking in the sight of the Pleiades star cluster. "Not bad." Rose turned and looked at him,  
"Not bad at all." They shared a smile for a moment until the Doctor finally cleared his thought and looked back to the controls.  
"Right then, where to next Rose? Any requests?" Rose grinned even wider and shut the doors of the TARDIS before waltzing up the console.  
"Even if I did you know we'd get it wrong"  
"Ungrateful ape." The Doctor grumbled, enjoying her smile in the corner of his eye. "Alright then, go clean up, we'll touch down on Peladon soon. I've been meaning to revisit there, now there we'll get a peacefully welcome"  
"You always say that." Rose yelled over her shoulder before dashing out before the Doctor could retort. Remaining in orbit around the star cluster, the Doctor began to set in the coordinates for Peladon but a small sound drew his attention and he looked up to find a woman in a wedding dress standing only a few feet from him.

"What?" The Doctor asked, his face paling with confusion. The woman turned, looking just as surprised and making a small noise of shock. "What?!" The Doctor repeated, already trying to understand the insane appearance of this woman.  
"Who are you"  
"But-" The Doctor began, trying to get a thought formed.  
"Where am I?" She didn't wait, "What the hell is this place." The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS controls, starring stunned at her.  
"What?!" The Doctor blinked at her and looked back at the controls, "You can't do that. We're in flight, that's impossible"  
"Tell me where I am?!" The bride demanded, taking a step forward. "I demand you tell me right now, where am I!?" The Doctor took a step back, surprised by her anger and confusion.  
"Inside the TARDIS." He responded, still staring at her.  
"The what"  
"The TARDIS"  
"What"  
"The TARDIS!" HE snapped turning to the controls, "This place is called the TARDIS." Before she could respond he looked back at her. "How did you get here"  
"Obviously when you kidnaped me." The bride snapped angrily. "Who was it, who's paying you?" Ingoring the confusion on the Doctor's face she pressed, "Was it Nerice? Oh my God she's finally got me back. This has got Nerice written all over it!"

The Doctor just stood there in stunned silence as he took in the woman as she continued to ramble. Trying to clear his head he took in a few things: one this woman had no clue about him or the TARDIS, two she wasn't alien and three something had allowed the impossible to happen and the TARDIS to be entered during flight. After a moment he shook his head and tried to reenter the conversation as she started yelling about being halfway up the aisle before he drugged her. "I didn't do anything!" He yelled to the bride before checking the scanner to see if it had picked up, well anything. The bride followed him around the console.  
"I'll have the police on you. Me and my husband, well just as some as he is my husband, we're gonna sue the backside off you." Seeing the door past the Doctor, she rushed past him, towards it. Spotting her the Doctor returned his attention to her.  
"Wait! Wait!" She didn't listen and she threw the doors open to see the star cluster.

The Doctor sighed as the woman froze, all he wanted was to show the star cluster to Rose before taking a break on a nice little planet where he was a hero. Was that so much to ask? After a moment he followed the bride down to the door and stood behind her. "You're in space, outer space." He paused, not really wanting to say this to a human but he had no choice, "This is my... spaceship. It's called the TARDIS"  
"How am I breathing?" She asked quietly, sounding short of breath. The Doctor, while he didn't believe in any deities silently begged that this woman wouldn't faint.  
"The TARDIS is protecting us." After a long moment the woman glanced at him,  
"Who are you?" She then turned her eyes back to the sight outside the doors.  
"I'm the Doctor and you are"  
"Donna." She all but whispered. He looked her over, now confident in his original assumption.  
"Human"  
"Yeah. Is that an option"  
"It is for me."

Donna didn't seem to know how to take that and instead stood them stunned for a moment, moving her mouth in shock. Finally she said, "You're an alien"  
"Yes." He got the feeling she wouldn't take it as well as Rose had. Instead she just said,  
"It's freezing with these doors open." The Doctor closed them quickly before returning to the controls.  
"This shouldn't have been able to happen." Looking back at her for a moment he shook his head, "There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and teleport itself inside." He moved to the scanner and started trying to scan Donna but she just punched his arm. "What was that for"  
"Get me to the church!" He nodded and leaped in action.  
"Right I don't want you here! Where is this wedding"  
"St. Marys, Howell Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System." Donna took a breath and then spotted one of Rose's shirts that she had left hanging on the rails. The Doctor meanwhile was trying to set into the place. "I knew it! Acting innocent!" Donna grabbed the shirt and walked up to him. "I'm not the first am I?! How many women have you aducted?!" The Doctor blinked at her and frowned, rapidly losing his patience.  
"That's Rose's." He blinked, "Where is she?" The Doctor ignored Donna for a moment as he looked into the halls of the TARDIS. "Can't imagine she didn't hear you yelling." Donna glared at him. "Rose!" He paused for a moment, "Rose! The TARDIS isn't that big!" 

Rose Tyler shook her head as she heard the Doctor's call, when she stepped out of the wardrobe room, she kept feeling like that room got bigger each time she went in. Maybe the TARDIS was just expanding her fashion horizons, Rose did get the feeling the ship liked her. Grinning she set off for the console room but stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she stepped in and saw Donna. They looked at each other for a moment before both voiced their question at the same time, "Who is she?!" The Doctor crossed his arms and took a breath to calm himself down before dealing with the two women staring at each other.  
"Rose this Donna, Donna Rose." He looked to his companion who was giving him an odd, "Don't look at me like that Rose, she just appeared here. One minute nothing and next there she is, wedding dress and all"  
"What are you?!" Donna asked, jumping back. "Just get me to the church I'm getting married." Seeing the Doctor was running short on patience Rose took a step forward and said calmly,  
"Tell you what Donna, while the Doctor gets us moving for the church why don't we get you a cuppa? Calm you down a bit." Donna considered this carefully,  
"What are you?" Rose reminded herself to stay friendly,  
"I'm human. I'm from Earth, from the year 2006." Donna relaxed slowly.  
"Me too, Christmas Eve 2006." Rose looked to the Doctor who nodded and turned back to the controls. Rose motioned for Donna to follow her to the kitchen which the irritated woman slowly did.

"So you haven't seen anything strange." Rose recapped after questioning Donna, "Nothing at all." Donna shock her head and took another sip of her tea, now grateful for it. Seeing the woman was still distressed Rose took her hand.  
"It's okay Donna, I know the Doctor is a bit of a shock at first but he's a good bloke. He'll help you, we both will. Don't worry, whatever caused this to happen he'll figure it out and fix it." Donna nodded and took another deep breath to study herself.  
"So you and your boyfriend-" Rose blushed and shook her head,  
"He's not my boyfriend. He's just the Doctor, my best mate. I travel with him, see the universe and help people but he's not my boyfriend." "Sorry." Rose smiled,  
"It's alright." They sat in silence for a moment.  
"So this bloke you're marrying. What's he like, what's his name"  
"Lance." Donna said with a smile. "He's wonderful. He work together and he brings me coffee everyday." She grinned, "He's smart and funny. We get along so well"  
"Sounds nice." Rose said as she took a sip of her tea.  
"And you?" Donna asked for a moment, "Anyone waiting for you to come back on Earth?" Rose nodded after a moment,  
"No boyfriend or anything like that but my Mum and a good mate of mine, Mickey"  
"Too bad." Rose shook her head,  
"No I like it that way." Donna tilted her head to look at Rose.  
"So you don't want to get married and have a family, nothing like that."

Rose looked at her tea and considered her answer for a moment. "I don't think so, I mean this life with the Doctor is all adventure and never standing still but I like things that way. I don't really have an interest in settling down in one place, the Doctor never will." Donna smiled slyly.  
"Your sweet on him." Rose shook her head.  
"No I'm not." Donna laughed.  
"Personally I don't know what you see in that martian. Seemed rude to me." Rose snorted,  
"He's not from Mars." She laughed, "But he can be a bit rude"  
'Where's he from?" Rose paused,  
"I don't know it's name but it's gone now." Rose didn't add anything else but instead stood up and stated, "We'd better go rejoin the Doctor."

They stepped out onto a street and Rose blinked as she looked up and saw a new store where the Hendriks used to be. "They rebuilt." The Doctor chuckled.  
"Yeah your lot usually does." He looked around and Donna began to freak out. "You got it wrong! I said St. Marys!" She looked at her watch, "I'm gonna miss the wedding! My own wedding!" Rose pulled out her phone.  
"Here call them and have them send a car for you." Donna took a breath and the phone while the Doctor gave Rose a grateful look. He couldn't get a read on this woman. Donna dialed and they waited, at least Rose did. The Doctor on the other hand was becoming aware of the santa band on the other side of the square that was slowly moving towards them. Rose noticed glanced at him and then looked back, seeing the concern growing on his face, she followed his gaze to the band and shivered. Behind them Donna snapped, "No answer! I vanish and they all go out for tea!" The Doctor's eyes widen as the band pointed their instruments straight at them. Grabbing Rose's hand tightly he looked at Donna and Rose.  
"Run!" Donna screamed as the santas opened fire, sending the crowd ducking for cover while the Doctor, Rose and Donna dashed back into the alley for the TARDIS. In the back of his mind, the Doctor was aware of Donna screaming while they ran but he tightened his grip on Rose's hand. He only released it when they dashed into the TARDIS and Rose slammed the doors shut behind Donna who was panting heavily. Rushing to the scanner screen they could see the santas opening fire on the TARDIS.  
"What are they!?" Donna gasped in fear. The Doctor activated the scanner.  
"Robots." He said simply. "Someone making them come after you." He looked at her for a moment but Donna wasn't having it.  
"Get us out of here!" The Doctor didn't argue with her and rapidly set the new location before they were off. Rose gave Donna a small smile as they landed and checked the screen.  
"Okay." 

Stepping outside Donna took a deep breath and the jacket that Rose offered her. She sighed when she looked down at her watch. Rose stepped up next to her, trying to ignore the chill of the English winter herself. "Did we miss it?" Donna nodded and Rose gave her a apologetic look.  
"Sorry about that." The Doctor said joining them after checking on the TARDIS controls.  
"It's not your fault"  
"That's a change." Donna smiled and chuckled. They stood in silence for a moment.  
"Wish you had a time machine." Donna said looking at the Doctor. "Then we could go back and get it right." Rose glanced at the Doctor who simply looked out over the city from the rooftop he had set them down on.  
"Even if I did I can't change someone's personal time line." Donna didn't say anything but just sat down, pulling Rose's coat more tightly around herself. Rose joined her and the Doctor noticed Rose's goosebumps. Shrugging off his coat he dropped in gently onto his companions shoulders. Looking up at him as he sat down, Rose smiled gratefully despite her slight surprise.

"Oh!" The Doctor reached around Rose to get to the right hand pocket of his coat, Rose smirked at bit at his actions and blinked when he pulled out a ring. "Donna put this on." He handed it to Rose who in turn handed it to Donna.  
"Do you have to rub it in?" "This is a biodamper. It will keep you hidden." After a moments hesitation while she gave her two new 'friends' a long look, Donna slid the ring on and sighed.  
"For better or for worse." No one said anything until Rose grinned.  
"I can see my house from here." She raised her arm and pointed. "Powell Estates right over there." The Doctor and Donna smiled at her. "I wonder how Mums doing"  
"You really know how to ruin a good mood." Rose elbowed the Doctor lightly.  
"It's Christmas, that means it has been a whole year since she's seen me"  
"What do you mean we were here not too long ago"  
"Yeah to help Mickey with investigating that school but somehow you forgot to visit my mother"  
"Don't know how I could have forgotten that." The Doctor muttered. Donna laughed,  
"I take it the Doctor and your Mum don't get along"  
"Cats and Dogs." Donna laughed and Rose grinned.  
"Fine after we figure out why Donna teleported into the TARDIS and stop the robot santas we can go visit your mother."

The Doctor paused and looked past Rose at Donna, "Which bring us back to the question of what would robot mercenaries want with you and how did you get inside the TARDIS?" He considered this while the two women looked at him. Grabbing his sonic screwdriver form the pocket of his jacket he began to scan Donna. "What's your job"  
"I'm a secretary." The Doctor frowned deeply.  
"This makes no sense, I can't understand it and I understand everything. You're not strange in any way, you're completely human." He handed the sonic screwdriver back to Rose who asked,  
"What kind of secretary"  
"At H.C. Clements." She smiled at Rose and the Doctor nearly rolled his eyes. "That's where I met Lance, it was so posh and wonderful. I was so worried I'd never fit in but then Lance made me a cup of coffee, me a secretary. Lance is the head of HR, he had no reason to bother with me." The Doctor stood up, still listening but becoming uncomfortable with the conversation and the gushing over a guy. Especially with Donna telling Rose. "But he was so nice and funny. That's how it started me and him, one cup of coffee."

Smiling Rose nodded and then after a moment asked, "When was all this"  
"Six months ago"  
"That's kinda fast don't you think." Donna looked a bit uncomfortable for half a moment.  
"Well he insisted." In reality of course she had asked him. "And he nagged and he nagged me." She had nagged him. "And he just wore me down until finally I gave in"  
"What does H.C. Clements do?" The Doctor asked from behind them, reentering the conversation. "Security systems. You know entry codes, ID cards that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's the posh name for a lock smith." Donna sighed, "Enough about me come on time to face the consequences. Oh this is going to be so shaming." She turned to look at the Doctor behind her. "You can do the explaining." She stood up with Rose's help and handed Rose's coat back to her, to Rose's disappointment. Reluctantly but not showing it, Rose removed the Doctor's large leather coat and gave it back to him. He pulled it on as Donna entered the TARDIS sighing. "I had this big reception all planned out, everyone is going to be so disappointed."

Everyone wasn't disappointed, in fact as they walked in they weren't even noticed. Rose bit her lip softly, feeling pity for Donna as her friends and family partied without her. Next to her the Doctor shifted, uncomfortable in the same realization. After a moment Donna walked to the edge of the dance floor and everyone began to notice her as she crossed her arms. On the dance floor, Lance was the last to stop dancing and look at her. "You had the reception without me"  
"Donna," Lance began stepping forward, "What happened to you?" Disbelieving Donna repeated herself,  
"You had the reception without me?!" Donna turned to look at Rose, "They had the reception without me." Rose nervously nodded.  
"Well it was all paid for, why not"  
"Thank you Nerice!" Donna hissed at the blond woman who had been dancing with Lance.  
"Oh what were we supposed to do." Walking forward confidently Donna's mother looked at her daughter. "I got your silly little message in the end." Donna's jaw went slack, "I'm on Earth very funny but what the hell happened?!" The Doctor and Rose stepped back as everyone crowded around yelling out questions at Donna who after a moment began crying. Lance stepped forward and hugged her, leaving the Doctor and Rose standing in the background very uncomfortable. Applause filled the room at what everyone seemed to consider a touching scene.

The party was back into full swing only fifteen minutes later with Donna happily dancing with Lance. Rose stood in the corner with the Doctor by the bar, "Any thoughts"  
"No, nothing about this makes sense. She's not special, she's not smart or gifted or"  
"Be nice." He looked at Rose and grinned which she happily returned. "Sorry about Peladon." Rose shrugged.  
"Well how often have we gotten to where we're trying to go. Cosmic conspiracy remember." The Doctor nodded and though for a moment. "Cell phone." Rose quickly pulled out her phone and handed it to the Doctor. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and typed in H.C. Clements. The screen whirled wildly when the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver on the phone as Rose peeked over his shoulder. They both frowned in confusion when the screen read. H.C. Clements Sole Prop. Torchwood.  
"Doctor I've heard that name before. It was a question on Weakest Link." Rose shivered thinking of the name.  
"It was also the name of the estate where Queen Victoria was attacked by the werewolf." They looked at each other as the Doctor handed her the cell phone. "Coincidence?" The Doctor asked, Rose shook her head, a small smirk on her face.  
"I think not."

Up Next: The Runaway Bride II 


	2. The Runaway Bride II

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Two: The Runaway Bride II

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Okay I thought I could get this in two but it isn't going to happen so here's the second and the third part is coming soon! Please please please review!

The Doctor looked across the room and brightened, he manic grin slowly overtaking his face. Rose grinned in response to seeing the oddly comforting look as the Doctor stood up and walked purposely across the room. Following him, Rose beamed when she realized what he had spotted: a camera. Stepping up the camera man the Doctor asked, "Did you videotape the wedding?" The young man nodded,  
"Yeah I taped the whole thing, they've all had a look. They said sell it but I said more like the news." He grinned at his own little joke and started the play back. "Here we are." Rose and the Doctor watched Donna vanish in golden light on the small screen with a scream.  
"That's not possible." The Doctor muttered to himself, "Play that back"  
"Good trick, I'll give her that." The camera man said, doing as the Doctor asked. Rose took a step back from the screen to let the Doctor lean in very close.  
"That looks like Huon particles." "What?" Rose asks, standing on her tip toes to see over his slouched shoulders. She jumped back as the Doctor turned to look at her.  
"Huon particles, ancient energy that doesn't exist anymore." "Well either it still exists or you're wrong."

The Doctor looked at Rose for a long moment, "No that's Huon energy but it hasn't been seen for billions of years." He shook his head, "It's so old that-" His eyes widened and he wiped around to look at Donna, "It can't be hidden by a biodamper." Grabbing Rose's hand they took off past the dance floor and up the stairs to a window. Behind him Rose gasped as through the window they could see the robot soldiers approaching. Rose turned and rushed down the stairs and back onto the dance floor, straight to Donna.  
"Donna!" The older woman turned to look at her, "We've got to get everyone out of here"  
"But the Doctor said I was safe"  
"The biodamper doesn't work." The Doctor said joining them.  
"There's a back door." Donna took off leaving Rose and the Doctor to follow her to a large set of glass double doors. Donna threw them open but stepped back into Rose when she saw two robots marching on the doors.  
"Seems not." The Doctor pulled them both back and closed the doors. Returning to the main dance hall the Doctor went to the window. He clenched his teeth, seeing more robots waiting just outside the window.  
"We're trapped." Donna breathed in fear, taking Rose's hand as they stepped back from the window. 

They watched as one of the robots raised a remote control, the Doctor frowned. "It has something inside." Rose balked at him,  
"What is it?" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and it began to beep as they moved through the room. It flashed and they looked up at the Christmas tree. "You've got to joking"  
"Get away from the tree!" The Doctor yelled. "Everyone get away from the tree." Donna and Rose proceeded to grab the hands of the children seated around the tree and lead them off.  
"Oh for Gods sake the mans an idiot." Donna's mother laughed, "What harm is a Christmas tree gonna do?" They looked to see the balls flying off the tree and over the crowd. Everyone thought it was lovely until they began to fly all around the room and explode. Donna ran and ducked behind an overturned table while the Doctor grabbed Rose and blocked some debris from hitting her as one of them exploded right next to them. "You alright?" Rose nodded.  
"Fine but we have to stop this." The Doctor nodded and began to look around, trying to find something he could use. Pulling on her hand the Doctor lead Rose through the chaos before they jumped behind the sound system. The screams calmed and they slowly peeked over the top to see six jolly Father Christmas robots with their weapons trained right on them. Rose tried to grab the Doctor and pull him down but he grinned at her, reasuring her that he did at least have some idea of what he was doing. "Oi Santa, if you're going to attack a man with a sonic screwdriver." Picking up the microphone he added, "Don't let him near the sound system." With that the Doctor inserted the sonic screwdriver into the system and the sonic waves filled the room. Rose and all the others covered their ears but the robots began to shake until they fell apart.

Grinning manically the Doctor dove into the robot remains as Rose and Donna helped the others up before joining him. "Control for the tree." The Doctor said with a grin, holding up the large hand held device, "But there's a second remote control, one for the robots"  
"You're a Doctor you can help." Donna said, "People are hurt"  
"No time." The Doctor said seriously.  
"But people are hurt." Donna insisted.  
"There's a bigger picture here." His eyes widened, "There's still a signal." Without another word the Doctor leaped up and ran out, followed by Rose. Donna picked up the edges of her dress and began to follow.  
"Donna?" She looked back at her mother, "Who is that man." Donna was still for a moment before turning and following the Doctor and Rose.

Outside Rose held the robot head as the Doctor attempted to trace the signal. "Hopefully this head won't melt." Rose said lightly, earning a grin from the Doctor.  
"Good times." Donna rushed to them.  
"What is it"  
"Someone is controlling the robots." Rose filled in as the Doctor remained focused on his task.  
"But why me? What have I done wrong?" "If I can find the source, we can find out." The Doctor frowned as he held the sonic screwdriver to the air. "They're up there. They're in the sky."

The Doctor and Rose rushed up to Donna who was talking to Lance. "I lost the signal!" The Doctor yelled, "We've gotta get you out of here Donna! I need to see H.C. Celments, that's where all this started!" He spotted Lance, "Lance!" He then glanced at Donna, "This is Lance right?" At her nod he nodded and continued, "Right you can drive."

They rushed into the building and the Doctor took a hard look around. "Right I think it started here, this company is owned by the Torchwood Institute"  
"Who are they?" Donna asked, the Doctor blinked at her.  
"Honestly I'm not sure but they keep popping up when I'm on Earth. They have something to do with aliens and given the current situation, they are your tie to what is happening"  
"But what do they want with me?" Donna asked, fear showing on her face. The Doctor glanced at Rose who gave him a small nod.  
"She needs to know"  
"Right then. Uh somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy." He paused before saying, "And that isn't good because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only Huon particle now is a remnant in the Heart of the TARDIS." Rose tilted her head and looked at the Doctor carefully. "That's what happened, when your particles activated you were pulled inside the TARDIS." Donna stepped back in fear while the Doctor began to question Lance, Rose stepped forward and took Donna's hand. "It's okay. Really it will be okay." Donna was trying not to cry.  
"How do you know that?" Rose pulled Donna into a comforting hug.  
"The Doctor and I are here." She smiled and realized Donna, "At least you were pulled into the TARDIS and not something else right"  
"I suppose." Donna said slowly. "But why today of all days"  
"I don't know." Rose admitted quietly.

"Come on!" The Doctor snapped regaining the women's attention. "We're going to the floor that doesn't exsist." Rose grinned and followed him.  
"Don't you just love that." They arrived at the lift and the Doctor showed them the button. "This according to the plans shouldn't exist. So what's down there?" Rose grinned and stepped into the lift after the Doctor.  
"You telling me that this building has got a secret floor?" Lance asked from behind Donna.  
"No I'm showing you that this building has got a secret floor." The Doctor said, "Now are you coming or staying." Donna shook her head at him,  
"But you need a key." Rose grinned as the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver.  
"He doesn't"  
"Thanks you two." The Doctor said firmly, "But Rose and I can handle this from here"  
"No chance martian. You keep saving my life so I'm better off sticking with you." She turned around and looked at Lance. "Lance"  
"Maybe I should go to the police?" He pointed away from the lift but Donna just snapped,  
"Inside." Lance sighed and stepped into the lift while the Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance as the lift began to descend.

The doors opened and Lance and Donna moved aside to let the Doctor step out first into the dark hall. Rose frowned at the green lights and shivered, this place felt wrong. "What goes on down here?" Donna asked.  
"Don't know." The Doctor sighed. "Giving the looks of this place, whatever Torchwood is I don't think they're in control anymore"  
"They're not." He turned to see Rose staring down the hallway, a blank look in her eyes. "They did something wrong, it almost destroyed everything. They're gone from this place." Gently the Doctor took her hand, snapping her from her trance. "Okay?" He questioned quietly. She smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah. I don't know what that was." The Doctor looked at her carefully.  
"I feel it to Rose. Someone was trying to use forces beyond their understanding." He looked down the hall a ways to see damaged walls. "And I'd say it blew up in their faces"  
"Literally." Rose added trying to smile.  
"Come on." The Doctor said, leading the other three down one of the tunnels.

He stopped when they came to a large door, grinning he grabbed the wheel and began to open the door slowly. Looking in he saw the ladder and turned back to Donna and Lance. "Stay here and don't do anything." He looked at Rose. "Is there any point in telling you to stay put"  
"None at all"  
"Right then come on." Rose grinned and climbed up the ladder after the Doctor. Seeing the top up ahead the Doctor called back. "Wait." Rose stopped and looked up, watching the Doctor open the top hatch. Sunlight poured into the tunnel and after he climbed out, Rose climbed after him. Helping her out, the Doctor laughed at the look on her face as she looked around, realizing that they were.  
"Are we where I think we are?" He grinned at her, folding his arms across his chest.  
"Yep, we're on top of one of the piers of Thames Barrier.  
"Huh, building a secret base right under a landmark." She laughed. "Guess it makes sure the employees never forget where it is." The Doctor laughed and they grinned at each other.

Gasping Rose looked around excitedly as they entered the lab, large tubes bubbled all around them and Rose leaned forward to look at one closely. The Doctor nodded and examined one himself. "What is this?" Donna asked looking around in surprise.  
"This is where they're making Huon particles"  
"I though you said that technology was lost." Rose said standing up straight from behind n the tubes.  
"Looks like someone remembers." He shrugged. "My people never bothered much with Huon particles, unravel atomic structure." Lance stepped forward curiously.  
"Your people? Who are they? What company do you represent?" Rose snorted, trying to contain her laughter. "So this, this is what is inside me?" Donna asked looking up at the tubes. The Doctor nodded and pulled out a blub with the Huon particles.  
"Huon particles in liquid form." He activated them and watched with interest as Donna glowed for a moment before he switched them off. "Fantastic!" He grinned and looked at the blub, "Huon paticles need something to catalyze inside, and that's you." He looked at her and slowly it dawned on him, "Saturate the body then the wedding." The Doctor laughed and put the blub back into place. "You're wedding, you were all excited and jittery. All those chemicals in your body mixing and fighting. You set those particles right off." "Shut it!" Donna yelled taking a step back. The Doctor silenced himself and glanced at Rose who stepped up beside him.  
"Donna? Are you okay?" Rose asked gently.

Donna looked up at the Doctor after a moment and taking a deep breath she asked, "Just tell me, these particles are they dangerous? Am I safe" The Doctor looked at both Donna and Rose's worried faces and slowly answered,  
"Yes." Donna sighed and Rose recognized the lie.  
"Doctor?" Rose asked looking at him imploringly. "If Huon particles are safe, why did they get rid of them?" "Because they were deadly." The Doctor answered softly.  
"Oh my God." Donna breathed before grabbing Rose weakly for support. "What ever has been done to you, I'll reverse it." The Doctor promised as Donna and Rose looked at him. "I'm the Doctor after all." Rose smiled and nodded.

"Oh at last I have waited so long!" They looked around in confusion at the raspy voice and their eyes settled on the wall behind them that suddenly began to rise up. Rose steps back with Donna as they look into the revealed room to see more robots and a deep pit. "Hibernating at the edge of the universe." Lance looked around before slipping away. "Until I was called out to waken!" The robots all turned and trained the guns on the Doctor, Rose and Donna. The Doctor however, stepped forward calmly and looked down the large hole. "You've been busy." He leaned forward, "Built using lasers, how far down does it go"  
"Down all the way to the city of the Earth." The raspy voice replied. Rose stepped forward and looked,  
"Blimey. What for?" The Doctor took her hand and pulled her back from the edge. "I wasn't going to fall"  
"Not the time Rose." He looked around, "Where are you, reveal yourself to me"  
"I am high in the sky. High in the sky on Christmas Night"  
"I didn't come here to talk to the air, show yourself and speak with me." The Doctor yelled, "I demand an audience"  
"Who are you to make such demands"  
"I'm the Doctor"  
"Prepare your best medicines Doctor man!"

Rose jumped back a bit when the large red spider like creature teleported into the room, on the other side of the pit. "Racnoss?!" The Doctor gasped. "But that's impossible. The Racnoss are extinct"  
"I am the Empress of the Racnoss." The large creature hissed.  
"If you're the Empress where are the rest of the Racnoss?" He paused and raised his face, "Or are you the only one"  
"Such a sharp mind." The Empress commented as the Doctor whispered to Donna and Rose,  
"The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago." He watched the Empress carefully, "They were vicious, they destroyed and devoured everything in their paths"  
"Racnoss are born starving!" The Empress yelled to the Doctor rearing up. "Is that our fault"  
"You shouldn't even exist!" The Doctor yelled stepping forward to examine the Empress across the hole. "The Racnoss were wiped out." Donna in the corner of her eye stopped Lance slipping back into the room. "Except for me"  
"How do I fit in?!" Donna demanded. "Look at me I'm talking to you! Where do I fit in?" Lance raised the axe. "I don't know what you are but a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe!" Looking at Lance she yelled. "Now!" Lance raised the axe but dropped it laughing.  
"That was a good one." Lance told the Empress grinning. "Your face"  
"Lance is funny." The Empress told the Doctor.

"What?!" Donna gasped looking between the Empress and Lance. The Doctor stepped next to her and said softly.  
"I'm sorry"  
"Sorry for what?" Donna asked looking at him before looking back at Lance. "Lance don't be so stupid. Get her." Rose bit her lip, figuring it out.  
"God she's thick!" Lance all but growled. "Months I've had to put up with her. Months, a woman who can't even point to Germany on a map." Donna was stunned silent for a moment until looking at the Doctor and Rose.  
"I don't understand"  
"He made you coffee," The Doctor said softly.  
"Everyday I made you coffee." Lance said with a grin, stepping around the Empress.  
"You had to dosed with liquid particles over the course of six months." The Doctor explained softly. Rose put it in simple terms.  
"He was poisoning you Donna"  
"But-" Donna shook her head, "We were getting married"  
"Well I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. Then I was stuck with a woman who thought excitement was the new flavor of Pringle. Oh I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap"  
"You shut it!" Rose yelled to Lance. "Shut it right now!" Lance glared at Rose who glared right back at him. Lance smirked,  
"I deserve a medal"  
"Is that what she's offered you?" The Doctor asked, "The Empress, what are you a consort"  
"It's better than a knight with her."

Donna shallowed and only offered up weakly, "But I love you." Lance didn't even flinch.  
"That's what made it easy." While Donna looked to the floor Lance continued. "Like you said Doctor, the big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing. That's what the Empress can give me, the chance to go out there to see it, the size of it all." Lance paused and looked at him. "I think you understand that don't you Doctor"  
"Who is this physician?" The Empress asked Lance.  
"She said Martian." The Doctor waved this off.  
"I'm not from Mars. But what's down here?" He looked down the hole, "Why bother if all there is down there is molten rock"  
"I think he wants us to talk." Lance said, "Well tough all we need is Donna"  
"Kill him!" The Empress yelled. The Doctor held the blub up to Donna and activated it. Rose gasped as the TARDIS appeared around them.

"What did you do!?" The Doctor beamed,  
"Fantastic! I reserved the particles, drew the TARDIS to Donna." Rose laughed.  
"Now what?" The Doctor shrugged and said.  
"Well I lied about not having a time machine and now we're going to use it"  
"How far back?" Rose asked joining him at the controls.  
"Farther than we've ever gone before! Something is buried in Earth's core and I need to find out what!" Rose beamed but stopped when she saw Donna sit down in the chair, trying not to cry. Rose walked over and leaned against the rail to look at Donna. "I know it doesn't help and it won't seem true but he's not worth it." Donna didn't say anything. "Donna all that stuff he said, that's because he wasn't bothering to look, not really." Rose shifted uncomfortably. "Men can be beasts can't they." Donna nodded and the Doctor looked over at them, listening to the conversation.  
"Yeah but I fell for it"  
"Nothing wrong with trying to find love." Rose said gently. "That's all anyone wants, to be loved by someone and belong someplace." The Doctor heard Rose's words and fought the shiver running through him but rather turned back to the controls. After another moment he looked back over at them. "We've arrived, want to see?" Rose nodded and looked to Donna who also slowly nodded. "The scanners a bit small, open view is best for this." He walked over to the doors and pulled them open. Behind him Rose gasped as he stepped aside to let her and Donna look.

They looked out to see large massive clouds of gas, partially blocking out the sun in the distance. Large rocks floated around them, orbiting around the sun. "It's 4.6 billion years in your past." The Doctor said from behind them. "Rose Tyler, Donna Noble. Welcome to the beginning of the world."

Coming Soon: The Runaway Bride III 


	3. The Runaway Bride III

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Three: The Runaway Bride III

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Yeah it is finally done, I forgot that this really did last a full hour! Blimey transcribing this one took forever. Please tell me it was worth it and review!

They looked out to see large massive clouds of gas, partially blocking out the sun in the distance. Large rocks floated around them, orbiting around the sun. "It's 4.6 billion years in your past." The Doctor said from behind them. "Rose Tyler, Donna Noble. Welcome to the beginning of the world." He leaned in and dropped his voice. "There's no solar system yet, just dust and rocks floating around a young star"  
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked in a whisper.  
"All around us, in the dust." Donna nodded and looked out at it again.  
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right we're just tiny"  
"But that's what you humans do." The Doctor said gently, "You may be small and stupid at times-" Rose elbowed him, "But as I was saying Rose you have so much potential. You'll grow, you'll see it all and you'll make sense out of chaos by marking it with events: birthdays, Christmas, weddings, births, death and calendars"  
"It's beautiful." Rose breathed looking out the gently moving rocks.  
"Oh it's very beautiful, the whole process of it"  
"So I came out of all this?" Donna asked softly, despite knowing the answer.  
"It's fantastic isn't it."

Rose looked around before looking at the Doctor, "So how does this become Earth?" He grinned,  
"Well soon gravity will take over when one rock begins to draw in others and it gets big enough to pull in everything: the dust, the gases and all the elements until you get"  
"The Earth." Rose breathed, grinning at him over her shoulder.  
"Now the question is," The Doctor said looking around "What was that first rock"  
"Doctor!" Rose pointed out near the gas clouds and they looked to see a web ship passing through it. "The Racnoss." After a moment he rushed to the controls. "The Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?" Rose and Donna stood stunned as rocks began to fly towards the ship, gathering all around it. It was Donna who answered the Doctor.  
"Exactly what you said!" The Doctor returned to the door.  
"They didn't bury something in the center of the Earth. They became the center of the Earth." He caught Rose as the TARDIS was violently hit.  
"What was that?" Donna asked as the Doctor let go of Rose and shut the doors of the TARDIS.  
"Trouble"

The Empress of the Racnoss looked down at Lance the moment after the TARDIS vanished. "If a key is lost, than another must be cut!" Lance gaped at her as she stretched herself up, "Arm!" Turning as one, the robots fixed their guns on Lance who whimpered as several of the robots grabbed him. "Bring me the particles!" The Empress yelled. "Now that I know the Bride's correct dose I can force feed it." The robots held Lance tightly and poured the liquid into his mouth even as he struggled. "Drink the particles!" The Empress yelled throwing her head back, "Become the key!" The Empress smiled with her sharp white teeth as Lance began to glow. "My wonderful wonderful key! Now find him!"

"What's happening?!" Rose asked as she grabbed onto the TARDIS controls.  
"Particles pulling particles, they're pulling us back"  
"Can't you stop it?!" Donna demanded, grabbing the rail behind her. "Don't' you have something?!" The Doctor looked at Rose,  
"Rose hand me the extrapolator!" Rose knelt down and the pulled the Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator from the lower controls and gave it to the Doctor before reclaiming her hold on the TARDIS. The Doctor took the extrapolator and hooked it back in. "It should give us a bit of distance!"

The TARDIS materialized in the large room. "The bride shall join her groom!" The Empress exclaimed seeing the TARDIS. "What a wedding they shall have." Inside the TARDIS the Doctor hit the extrapolator and the TARDIS dematerialize, only to rematerialize in one of the long tunnels. The Doctor rushed out of the TARDIS, followed by Rose and Donna. "Hurry!" The Doctor yelled running down the hallway, Rose reached over and grabbed his hand as Donna hurried along behind them.  
"She is close!" The Empress yelled rearing up and speaking to her robots, "The holy bride in white! Find her! Find her!"

The Doctor stopped running when he reached one of the doors in the tunnels. He began to examine. "What are you going to do"  
"Don't worry I've got this under control." The Doctor told Donna.  
"But I don't understand." Donna said, "I'm full of particles but what for"  
"There's a Racnoss web ship in the core of the planet they need you to access their power source." Rose nodded and stood next to him.  
"So if they get Donna." Neither noticed the robot hand that quickly covered Donna's mouth before it proceeded to drag her away.  
"Yeah hundreds of hungry Racnoss devouring the human race"  
"What are you going to do?" Rose asked, the Doctor looked at her and sighed.  
"I'm afraid I may have to destroy them." Rose blinked in surprise. "I know it's not what I usually do but that species has been gone for 4.5 billion years." The Doctor sighed, "They don't belong here anymore and I can't let the human race die." Rose nodded and took the Doctor's hand,  
"I trust you Doctor." He smiled and turned,

"Okay Donna-" he trailed off seeing she wasn't there. "Fantastic." He turned back to the door and shoved it open only to freeze when a robot pointed it's gun right at him.

The Empress laughed loudly as she looked up at the webs on the ceiling where Lance and Donna were tied. "I hate you." Donna hissed angrily to Lance.  
"Yeah I think we've gone a bit beyond that sweetheart"  
"My golden couple, together at last your awful wedded life." The Empress laughed. "Tell me do you want to be released"  
"Yes!" They yelled together but the Empress just snapped,  
"You're supposed to say I do!" Lance shook his head,  
"No chance"  
"Say it!" The Empressed hissed. Lance sighed and looked at Donna before grumbling,  
"I do." Donna nodded and looked at the Empress "I do." The Empress laughed,  
"I don't. Activate the particles! Purge every last one!" Donna and Lance glowed with the particles as they activated "And release!" The active particles rapidly flowed from them and into the pit. "The secret heart unlocks and they will waken from their sleep of ages.

Donna still in the web asked, "Who will? What's down there"  
"How thick are you?!" Lance snapped at her from beside her.  
"My children, the long lost Racnoss! Now reborn to feast on flesh!" Donna and Lance looked at each other in fear. "The WebStar will come to me!" High above them, the Empresses ship began to descend on Earth. "My babies will be hungry, they need sustenance!" The Empress threw her head back and looked up at her prisoners. "Perish the web!" Lance shook violently,  
"Use her! Not me use her"  
"Oh my funny little Lance! But you are quite impolite to your lady friend. The Empress does not approve." With a slice of her front legs she cut Lance lose and he fell deep into the pit as Donna called his name and the Empress laughed.

Outside over London, the WebStar came to a stop over the innocent city on Christmas Eve. People raised their eyes to it, talking excitedly, in frightened voices and some ran for cover. "Harvest the humans!" The Empress yelled and the ship opened fire on the crowds and city streets. "Reduce them to meat!" Bolts of lightening made everyone run for cover in all the nearby building and rush for their cars. The Empress looked down the pit happily as one of the robots marched back onto the platform. "My children are climbing towards us and none shall halt them!" She hissed and turned towards the Doctor, "So you might as well unmask my clever little Doctor man." The Doctor pulled off the mask and robe, dropping them to the floor as Rose rushed over to the base of the stairs. He faced the Empress while Rose stood to the side and pointed the sonic screwdriver up at Donna. "I'm gonna fall!" Donna yelled,  
"No you're gonna swing!" Rose yelled as the strands came lose, leaving Donna with a rope. She swung over to Rose, screaming the whole time. Donna landed with a soft thud as Rose studied her and they looked over at the Empress.

The Empress shrugged it off and chuckled, "The Doctor man amuses me"  
"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance." The Doctor said seriously, "I can find you a planet, I can find you and your children a place to coexist. Take my offer and end this now." The Empress hissed and ignored him, only saying.  
"These men are so funny"  
"What is your answer?" The Doctor asked, dismissing her comment.  
"Oh... I'm afraid I have to decline!" The Empress said with a laugh. The Doctor lowered his eyes for a moment before looking back up at her.  
"Then what happens next is your own doing." The Empress frowned,  
"I'll show you what happens next." She hissed and raised herself up fully, "At arms!" The robots raised their guns, "Take aim! And"  
"Relax." The Doctor said, the robots dropped their guns and slumped over.  
"What did you do?" Donna asked and Rose laughed.  
"Give a man a remote and all that." The Doctor grinned and held up the remote.  
"Robots are not necessary!" The Empress yelled, "My children my feed on Martian flesh"  
"I'm not from Mars." The Doctor said seriously, the tone in his voice drew Rose's attention away from the Empress as she turned to look at him. "Then where?"

The Doctor's face was cold and his eyes were dull as he took in the question, he didn't notice Rose or Donna at the foot of the stairs or in reality the Empress. He just noticed the question and the pain of the answer. "My home planet is far away and long sense gone but it's name lives on ... Gallifrey." The Empress roared in raw rage, seeing a Time Lord.  
"They murdered the Racnoss!" She screamed but the Doctor simply said,  
"I warned you." Rose looked up at him, scared now: not for herself or Donna but for the Doctor. "You did this." The Doctor pulled out several red orbs from his pockets and held them out.  
"No! No! Don't!" He threw them in the air and pulled out the remote to control them. They circled the Empress for a moment before at his command they began destroying the secret level and the barrier between it and the Thames. Water rushed in through the tunnels and burst into the room making Donna and Rose gasp. Rose turned and looked up at the Doctor, reminded of seeing him pointing a gun at her. As the water rushed into the hole to the center of the Earth pillars of fire from the explosions burned as water poured down and stream erupted. The Empress screamed out for her children and the Doctor just stood there, watching the destruction. Rose gaped and took a step back before rushing up the stairs to him.

Rose grabbed the Doctor's arm, "Doctor!" He didn't turn to her, "Doctor! Doctor please! You can stop now!" He looked at her and took in her scared face and for a moment as he looked back at the screaming Racnoss she thought under the flow of the water he was crying. He looked down at Donna and yelled,  
"Donna come on!" He and Rose helped pull Donna up the stairs as the water rose. The Doctor looked back to see the Empress scream,  
"Transport me!" She vanished in a beam of blue light. In her ship the Empress screamed, "Oh they will suffer! So suffer! This planet shall be scorched!"

"What about the Empress?!" Donna yelled as they climbed the ladder to the top of the barrier. "She's teleported out! Keep climbing!" Outside in the streets of London tanks rolled in and raised their guns towards the skies.  
"Orders from Mr. Saxon. Fire at will"  
"Fire!" The soldier yelled as he and the other tanks shot down the ship. The Empress screamed as her ship was torn apart around her. Through the hatch top Rose, the Doctor and Donna saw the web ship fall apart and blow into the winds. Climbing out first Donna screeched as she looked around, the Doctor laughed as he climbed out and helped Rose out. "There's just one problem." Donna said bringing her breathing under control.  
"What's that?" The Doctor asked,  
"We've drained the Thames." Rose laughed as they looked around to see only an empty valley with several boats now stuck in the mud.

Donna sighed as she stepped out of the TARDIS in front of her home and took a deep breath. The simple brick home had Christmas lights hanging from the roof and wreath on the front door. Through the window Rose and the Doctor could see her parents. "Told you I'd get it right." The Doctor said with a smile, taking back his sonic screwdriver back from Rose. He turned to Donna and scanned her with a smile. "All the Huon particles are gone. No damage, you're fine"  
"Yeah," Donna said, "Half right, I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow all in the same day, sort of." The Doctor looked at her sadly.  
"I couldn't save him"  
"He deserved it." Rose frowned and looked at Donna softly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows and gave her a long look. "No he didn't." Donna said softly. "Better get inside they'll be worried." The Doctor nodded and looked at Rose.  
"Still time to clean up and go see your Mum." Rose smiled softly at him, traces of worry still in her eyes but she nodded and walked back into the TARDIS.

Donna smiled and looked back at her parents, hugging each other in the window. "Best Christmas present they could have." The Doctor said before remembering. "Oh right, you hate Christmas." Donna nodded and he grinned, reaching up inside the TARDIS. "Even if it snows." A ball of light brust from the top of the TARDIS and into the air, sending snow down over them. Donna giggled happily.  
"I can't believe you did that"  
"It's easy." The Doctor said with a shrug. Donna smiled.  
"Merry Christmas"  
"And you." Donna nodded and looked up at the TARDIS.  
"Do you live your life like this"  
"Not always." The Doctor said defensively. Donna shook her head.  
"I think you do and I can't figure out how Rose does this." She sighed. "That place was flooding, burning and they were dying and you just stood there... like a stranger." Donna looked ready to cry. "I don't how she stopped you, what she said to you, but you scare me to death." Donna gasped for air and shook her head.

The Doctor nodded slowly and turned back to the TARDIS but was stopped when Donna said one more thing. "Thank you though for saving me and my planet." He looked back at her and stood in silence as Donna nodded firmly. "I don't understand you and I don't want to but I know you mean well and thanks for that." She paused for a moment and looked down at the street gather her courage before looking back up at him. "Just promise me one thing." He didn't say anything. "Keep her with you, don't let Rose go." The Doctor stared at her in surprise. "You need her, even if you don't want to need her, you do." The Doctor nodded slowly.  
"Right then I'll be off, gotta go put up with Rose's mother." Donna chuckled and he grinned, "Just be fantastic Donna." She smiled and nodded.  
"I think I will." She smiled. "Tell Rose goodbye for me." The Doctor nodded and stepped into the TARDIS. Donna watched in silence as the whirling sound filled the street and the TARDIS vanished.

The Doctor looked up to see Rose in the doorway, wearing fresh clothes and watching him carefully. "What is it Rose?" She bit her lip, telling him she was worried. "Really Rose what"  
"I almost lost you today Doctor." He blinked in surprise as he saw tears in her eyes.  
"No, the danger wasn't ever that bad." Rose shook her head.  
"No, not that, not the Empress or the robots or the Thames." She stepped closer to him. "I almost lost you to you." The Doctor didn't know what to say as tears escaped Rose's eyes and slid down her cheeks. "For a moment I didn't know you. For a moment you scared me and I was afraid that somehow that darkness that I've known was lying in wait had won." She didn't bother to wipe away her tears as she tightly grasped his arms. "I've learned to accept the impossible Doctor, traveling with you I've learned a lot and I know that I could lose you to anything, anyday but I can't lose you to yourself." She lost it and broke down crying, not letting go of him, unable to think of anything to say as Donna's words haunted him, the Doctor pulled Rose against him and held her as she cried.  
"I'm sorry." He whispered, "I'm so sorry." Rose sniffed and nodded, resting her head against his chest as her tears lessened. "I didn't mean to scare you Rose but you're right I have a darkness inside of me." Rose pulled away far enough to look him in the eyes.  
"I know Doctor. I know that your no angel," She raised her chin and looked at him firmly, "But you're no devil either. No matter what I believe in you." The Doctor couldn't think of anything to say to Rose and instead kissed her forehead softly before wiping away her tears.  
"Up to visiting your Mum?" Rose smiled.  
"Are you"  
"I think I'll push my luck a little further."

Coming Soon: Girl in the Fireplace I 


	4. The Girl in the Fireplace I

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Four: The Girl in the Fireplace I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: This episode is for all those who requested Girl in the Fireplace staring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper! Now I am trying to be fair to Reinette so be nice to her, she's only on loan. If you like it, love it or hate please review and I'll update even faster!

The torches burned low, lighting the street that lead up to the grand palace but within the walls chaos reigned. Nobles and ladies dropped their masks and screamed, running through the halls as a wave to escape the creatures behind them. In a large room, one woman remained calm merely staring into the fireplace. A finely dressed man bursts into the room, fear filling his eyes as he reaches for the woman. "We are under attack! There are creatures... I don't even think they're human. We can't stop them." She stared at the clock on the mantle.  
"The clock is broken. He's coming." The man reached for her, concern on his face.  
"Did you hear what I said?" He grabs her hand and she looks at him, her face proud and calm.  
"Listen to me. There is a man coming to Versailles. He has watched over me my whole life and he will not desert me tonight"  
"What are you talking about? What man"  
"The only man, save you, I have ever loved." She raises her hand to keep him from speaking, "No, don't look like that, there's no time. You have your duties. I am your mistress. Go to your queen." She bends down before the fireplace, now allowing her fear to show. "Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now, you promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time. Doctor! Doctor!"

The dark halls of the silent ship almost shook as a whirling sound filled the air and a blue box slowly appeared in a large dark room. The Doctor emerges from it and looks around, Rose steps out after him a moment later. She blinks and bits her lip as she looks around before turning to the Doctor. "Looks kind of abandoned... Anyone on board"  
"The scanner didn't detect any life, just the usual machinery." Rose nodded slowly,  
"So Doctor when and where?" He smiled down at her and she grinned, her tongue over her teeth.  
"Three thousand years into your future." He stepped away from Rose and began searching for something among the machinery. Finding it he grinned and pulled the switch up. The lights came on the windows opened to allow them to see outside. "Wow!" Rose laughed, looking up at the cluster above them.  
" Fifty-first century. Diagmar Cluster." The Doctor said craning his neck to look up at the stars with her. After a moment he left her to it and looked around. "What a mess." He walked around a large stack of junk, "Must have been doing repair work." He stopped short as he spotted a diagram of the ship. "Now that's odd, look at that. All the warp engines are working at full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe... and we're not moving. So where's all that power going?" He crossed his arms and took in the diagram, his forehead creasing with curiosity and concern. Rose sensing his worry joined him.  
"Where'd all the crew go? You said their were no living life here. Well, we're in deep space; they didn't just nip out for a quick fag."

The Doctor nodded and paused thinking about the nature of the problem but he paused sniffing the air. "Can you smell that?" Rose sniffed the air and nodded.  
"Yeah, someone's cooking." The Doctor frowned and hit a switch, turning quickly when the wall behind them slid away. Grinning at Rose he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. They both stopped and looked at each other when they saw an elegant section of wall, complete with a fireplace. "Haven't seen that in a spaceship before." Rose said with a forced chuckle.  
"Me neither," The Doctor said releasing her hand and stepped closer. "Eighteenth century! French!" Pulling out the sonic screwdriver he quickly scanned it. "And not a hologram." Rose nodded and began to look around the rest of the room. Curiously she looked through a porthole at the stars beyond the ship. Looking back at the fireplace she shivered, the Doctor didn't notice.  
"There's something funny about this place Doctor." He nodded.  
"Oh yeah. Not even a reproduction, this actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double-sided, there's another room through there." Rose shook her head,  
"There can't be, that's the outer hull of the ship, look." The Doctor looks past her and frowns before dropping down to look through the fireplace.

The Doctor blinks as a young girl with long blond hair looks back through at him. "Hello." "Hello..." the girl replies softly, hearing her Rose drops down next to the Doctor at see her.  
"What's your name"  
"Reinette"  
"Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?" The Doctor said softly, drawing a smile from Rose. The girl replied, sightly suspicious,  
"In my bedroom"  
"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?" The Doctor asked, she laughed.  
"Paris, of course"  
"Paris." The Doctor said with a nod.  
"Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace"  
"Just a routine fire check, nothing to worry about. Can you tell me what year it is"  
"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven." The Doctor nodded and smiled,  
"Good year but watch the weather in August. Good night." "Goodnight Monsieur."

Rose couldn't help but grin as they stood up, "Hole in the universe?" The Doctor looked surprised and grinned,  
"Smart girl. I knew you were the best"  
"And on the other side of the 'hole' is France in 1727?" He nodded and leaned against the far wall, looking at the fireplace.  
"Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too and upper class manners. Nobility or at least high merchant class." After a moment he walked back over the fireplace and found a latch. Looking up at Rose he gave her a smile. "Okay now this wall turns Rose and I'll be sent through the hole. Just wait here okay"  
"Is it safe?" He grinned at her.  
"Don't know but can't leave this hole like this, anything could happen." With that he pulled up the switch and the wall rotated, leaving Rose on one side and him on the other.

Ticking filled the elegant and dark bedroom, a dollhouse stood to side along with a few other toys. Stepping forward the Doctor looked at the sleeping Reinette before turning and looking out at the window. He glances back at the sleeping girl after taking in the Paris skyline. The neigh of a horse is heard in the room and Reinette's eyes snap open and she gasps, sitting up. Turning back to her quickly the Doctor takes a step back from the window. "It's okay it's me, don't scream." Seeing her relax slightly he walks over to her bedside table and lights the candle with the sonic screwdriver. Her eyes widen and she gapes up at him. "We were talking, just a moment ago. I was in your fireplace"  
"Monsieur, that was weeks ago. That was months!" The Doctor's eyebrows raised in surprise.  
"Oh that must be the...hole I found." The Doctor said returning to the fireplace.  
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The Doctor stood up to turn back to her but froze as he saw the broken clock.  
"Oh no"  
"You're worried about a broken clock." The Doctor turned and looked back to the little girl.  
"If this, the only clock in the room, is broken," he pauses listening to the ticking, "Then what's that."

On her bed Reinette looked around, fear filling in her young features. Moving back towards her slowly the Doctor listened to the loud sound. "'Cause you see that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet at least, the size of a man"  
"What is it?" The Doctor moves to the side and checks behind the curtain.  
"Breaking the clock, first thing to do if you're something that ticks. You can hide, no one notices the clock." The Doctor turns back to Reinette's bed and bend down on a knee. "Stay on the bed, right there in the middle. Don't over until I tell you to." He peers underneath the bed before turning on the sonic screwdriver to scan, trying to move slowly. Suddenly something smacks the Doctor backwards, knocking the screwdriver out of his hand and across the hardwood floor. Reinette gasps and the Doctor scrambles back to look underneath but freezes in place when he sees a pair of shoes on the other side of the bed. Pulling himself out from under the bed, the Doctor slowly raised himself up, looking at Reinette with wide eyes. "Reinette," He whispered softly, "Don't look back."

The Doctor stand and looks beyond the terrified little girl to look straight at the being behind her. Despite being dressed in fine clothes of the time, the painted false face of it, made it look like a giant doll. "You stay exactly where you are." The Doctor told Reinette, taking in the figure carefully. He glances back at Reinette, then at the figure, and then back at Reinette, his eyes glint with worry as he frown deepens. "Hold still, let me look..." He bent over and gently placed his hand on her head, like he had done nearly a year ago with Rose. Eyes widening he looked back at the figure. "You've been scanning her brain!" He looked straight into the scared child's eyes before standing up angrily. "What could possibly be in a child's mind that's worth punching a hole in time and space"  
"I don't understand. It wants me?" Reinette asked in a very quiet voice. She turns around to look at it and to the Doctor's surprise doesn't flinch. "You want me?" The droid's head twitches to one side and it speaks in a distinctly mechanical voice as it answers her question,  
"Not yet. You are incomplete"  
"How so? What do you mean by that?" The Doctor demands. It does not answer him but rather keeps watching Reinette. Pulling out the sonic screwdriver the Doctor pointed it at the droid, "You answered her, now answer me what do you mean incomplete?"

With jerky but fast movements the droid approached the Doctor and sticks out it's arm towards the Doctor. A blade sliced out towards the Doctor to quickly leaned away. "Monsieur, be careful!" The frightened Reinette yelled.  
"Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares." The Doctor backs away, the droid pursuing him with the blade. It swipes at the Doctor who jumps back, reaching the fireplace. "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" The droid slashes at the Doctor again. He jumps aside, and the droid's blade hits the mantel, getting stuck in the solid stone. Reinette raised herself up on the bed,  
"What do monsters have nightmares about?" The Doctor grabbed the switch and threw the girl his manic grin.  
"Me!" He laughed as the wall turned, moving him and droid back to the ship.

Rose jumps back from the fireplace as she sees the wall begin to turn. As the fireplace finishes turning the Doctor runs and grabs a gun-like object from the wall, using it to spray ice at the droid. It convulses in a last, vain attempt to free itself before freezing completely. Stepping closer she looked at the droid carefully, "Ice gun"  
"Fire extinguisher." The Doctor grinned manically and tossed it to Rose. Rose stepped closer to the droid before glancing at the Doctor.  
"Where did it come from"  
"Here." Rose blinked but said nothing as the Doctor pulled the face off to reveal the plastic covered clockwork. "Wow!" Rose breathed, watching it move.  
"Wow is right, this is fantastic! Space age clockwork, it would a crime to take you apart." The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and grinned, "But that doesn't mean I won't." The droid raises it arm with a creak before vanishing away in a gold teleport beam. 'Short range teleport, can't have gone far." The Doctor sighed and looked at Rose. "Will you be okay while I jump back there." Rose smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah can't let a bunch of clocks change history"  
"Don't go looking for it." The Doctor said firmly.  
"I'm not daft." The Doctor nodded and pulled down on the level, swinging back around with the fireplace."

The Doctor looks around the bedroom, the colors of gold and red standing out in the bright daylight coming through the windows. He steps over and looks at the harp. "Reinette... Just checking you're okay..." He looks up as a young and very beautiful woman enters the room and clears her throat. "Oh! Hello!" He smiles, "I'm just looking for Reinette." He paused, "I've been away for awhile, this might not be her room anymore." A voice from outside the room caught his attention.  
"Reinette! We're ready to go!" The woman in front of him smiled and called back,  
"Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there." Slowly a grin spread over the Doctor's face as Reinette stepped forward with a teasing smile. "It is customary, I think, to have an imaginary friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence"  
"Reinette." He shook his head for a moment, "Goodness you've grown"  
"And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you." She approached him carefully, the Doctor avoided the instinct to step away.  
"Well nice to see you but I'd better be off. Wouldn't do for someone to find you with a strange man in your room"  
"Strange? How could you be a stranger to me? I have known you since I was seven years old"  
"Yeah... I suppose you have." He chuckled, "I came the quick route."

Slowly Reinette raised her hand and touched it to the Doctor's cheek and titled her face to examine him better. "Well, you seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real"  
"Reason isn't always truth." The Doctor pointed out and Reinette smiled only to frown when a voice of a servant yelled,  
"Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient." She turned her face away to answer the voice,  
"A moment!" She turned back to the Doctor and smiled, "So many questions. So little time." Without warning, Reinette grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and kissed him fiercely. The Doctor was stunned for a moment before he gently pushed Reinette back when a voice yelled, "Mademoiselle Poisson!" Without looking at him, Reinette dashed away grabbing her purse on her way out the door. The servant stepped into view and his eyes widened at the sight of the Doctor. The Doctor fixed his coat and shook his head to clear it as the name began to ring in his mind. "Poisoson..." He blinked and stared at the servant. "Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France?" He shook his head and turned back to the fireplace. "Madame de Pompadour!" He shakes his head as the fireplace turns and he arrives back on the ship. "Rose?" He stepped out and looked around, "Rule one! Why can they never follow rule one!" He sighed and looked down the hall, "Someday I'm going to meet someone who can follow that simple basic rule."

The stars were bright and beautiful through the windows of the bridge but Rose didn't notice as she carefully set the fire extinguisherdown beside her and sat down in one of the chairs. Touching the computer screen gently, she breathed in relief when it came to life and ran through various programs. "Okay," Rose said to herself, "Just try to find the ships log." She blinked when the screen stopped activating and flashed the words. 'Emergency records.' Rose grinned and tapped the screen, sighing when it opened the files. "Okay ships name SS Madame de Pompadour. Huh, strange name." She scanned further in the information, "Destination Alpha Centra 3." She sighed, "Nothing useful here but suddenly an image appeared of a human woman, speaking to the screen. "We've been caught in an ion storm. Severe damage to all systems, most of the crew dead on impact." Rose watched the screen, shallowing hard as she watch the woman struggle to breath. "The dorid have started but I don't know if they can fix the ship, we're already low of spare parts." The sound of ticking was heard in the back of the recording and the woman turned. "Oh that God." Behind her Rose could see one of the clockwork droids coming up but she looked away as the woman screamed and she heard the sound of the droid's metal arms being retracted. The screen went black and the computer died as few of the controls sparked, making Rose jump out of her seat as the computer system failed. After a long silence Rose looked down at the again black screen, shaking slightly she grabbed the fire extinguisher and set off back to the TARDIS.

Rose was far more careful on her way back, keeping her eyes open for what she now knew were the killer droids. She shivered at the thought but stopped herself when she heard an odd click. She looked up and nearly screamed when she saw a camera or rather an eye, a human eye watching her as a piece of machinery. Rose calms down as the eye turns away but steps forward when she hears a steady thumping. Reaching out to the wall slowly, Rose quickly pulled open the small hatch and looked in. She bit her lip and looked away as she realized just what she was looking at, a heart wired into the ships systems. A human heart. Stepping back Rose looked around and shallowed and against her better judgement yelled, "Doctor!"

The Doctor turned his attention away from the horse he had found at the sound of Rose's voice. He rushed into a corridor and looked around, trying to decide where her voice was coming from. "Rose!" He heard her yell out for him again and rushed towards her. He met her in one of the long halls, not far from the TARDIS and caught her in a hug as she shook slightly. "It's okay Rose, I'm here." The Doctor said softly to her.  
"They killed them." Rose whispered and he pulled away enough to look at her. "The robots, the clockwork droid things, they killed the crew and used them in the ship." The Doctor was silent as she explained. "I found the ships computer and played back a message, they were caught in an ion storm and the ship was damaged. The droid came up behind the woman and killed her." Rose breathed deeply, returning to normal and she looked up the Doctor. "And then I found an eye being used as part of a camera and a heart wired into the machinery." The Doctor nodded slowly and started walking her back to the TARDIS.  
"Well done"  
"It's so creepy." Rose said taking the Doctor's hand as he nodded. They stopped in front of a mirror. "It's France again." They watch as a well dressed man enters with two servants. She looks at him before looking up at the Doctor. "Who's he"  
"King of France." They heard a neigh and they both turned to see the horse. "And that's a horse." Rose elbowed him.  
"I know that"  
"Well growing up in Powell Estates." The Doctor teased, "Can't be too sure of anything with you."

Rose laughed and looked back at the mirror. "So what is this"  
"Gateways to history. But not just any old history..." He pointed to Reinette as she entered, "hers.Time window... deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty-first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?" "Who is she?" Rose asked, watching the elegant Reinette.  
"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived"  
"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then"  
"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress"  
"Oh, I get it. Camilla." Rose said with a laugh, raising her chin. The Doctor smiled and nodded back to the time window.  
"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace... even her own title - Madame de Pompadour." Rose looked sharply at him.  
"What?" He blinked at her as she shook her head.  
"Madame de Pompadour." Rose blinked and looked up at him.  
"But thats the name of this ship." Rose said, "The computer told me that before it exploded"  
"Computer was damaged to." The Doctor gave Reinette one last glance as she came up to the mirror before grabbing Rose's hand and leading her back to the TARDIS. "We need to stop this before all of human history is changed as a result."

Up Next: The Girl in the Fireplace II

If you like, please review! 


	5. The Girl in the Fireplace II

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Five: The Girl in the Fireplace II

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Here we are part two! Enjoy and review this long awaited episode! I have to say I'm very pleased with it! I mean it really if you read it review it!

When they returned to the room where the TARDIS was waiting the Doctor hurried over to the diagram of the ship and started checking it. "You said the computer died on you while you were using it"  
"Yeah." Rose answered from the doorway, beginning to walk over to him. "It just gave out and sparked all over the place." The Doctor nodded.  
"Everything else is working, they're repaired everything else but not the computer." He paused and then his widened as he looked up at Rose. "Her brain, the ship is named after her to the droids must think her brain can replace their computer"  
"But what are they waiting for?" Rose asked and the Doctor looked back up at her.  
"Rose I need you to think hard." He let go of the scanner and stood in front of her. "Was there anything else in the computer file, the age of the ship or where it came from?" Rose paused.  
"I don't remember, I only remembered the name cause it was so weird." The Doctor nodded and thought for a moment, sitting on one of the flatter piles of junk, looking at the floor until he raised his eyes to Rose. "Rose do you remember when I entered your mind"  
"Kinda hard to forget." Rose said with a laugh, "Do you think it will help?" The Doctor nodded,  
"Yes but it is up to you. This time I'll be trying to get into your weaker memories, you'll feel me in your mind and you'll have to relive whatever memories I use." Rose was silent for only a split second before she smiled.

"Go ahead then." He blinked and she grinned, "I trust you and if this will get us to someplace sunny and warm faster than okay." He gave her his manic grin before placing his hands gently on either side of her face. Rose let her eyes fall shut and held back the shiver that tried to begin at the feel of him in her mind. He was right, it was different this time, without Bad Wolf taking over she was aware of him walking through her memories. "If there is anything you don't want me to see, just picture a door and close it behind the door." Rose relaxed into the soothing touch and was surprised when she felt herself also moving. Relaxing further she realized that she could make out a passage in front of her if she kept her eyes closed, taking a step towards it she stopped as the presence of the Doctor rushed over her. It was his mind, they were connected and for a moment Rose considered stepping forward into it but held herself back. The Doctor, her wonderful Doctor had asked her first and she had given him her permission. She would wait for the day he gave her the same, Rose drew herself back into her own mind and pushed forward the memories of the computer room. Sighing she guarded her feelings and thoughts of the Doctor tightly behind closed and locked doors as he saw what she had seen. After a few more long moments she felt him slip away and out of her mind. Rose opened her eyes and looked at him hoping at it had been helpful. The grin on his face made her smile. "The ship is thirty-seven years old." He let his hands drop away from her face. "The computer showed you when the ship was built. The droid must believe that they need her to be the same age as the ship. That's what they mean by incomplete." The sound of ticking drew his attention and he took Rose's hand. "Ready"  
"If you are."

They followed the ticking, the Doctor carrying the fire extinguisher in front of them. They arrived in a room with two metal tables on them with medical restraints. Rose had the nasty feeling that much of the crew had met their deaths her. The Doctor held up the fire extinguisher and addressed one of the droids after a pinging sound was heard. "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting"  
"She is complete. It begins." They watch as the three droids in the room teleport out. The Doctor rushed over to the controls.  
"What's happening?" Rose asked, following him to the controls.  
"One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head." He looked at Rose, "I need you to do something for me."

Madame de Pompadour was standing in the darkened room staring at the star filled sky when she heard the footsteps. She turned as a shadow passed over the shaft of light spilling into the room through the doorway as someone slowly approaches. Reinette quickly checked the clock to make sure it wasn't broken, she gaped a bit as a reflection appeared in the glass. "Madame de Pompadour-" Reinette spun to find Rose standing in the doorway. "Please, don't scream or anything, we haven't got a lot of time. My name is Rose and I come from the fireplace man to warn you." 

"I've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years." Rose said looking up at Reinette who was nervously pacing while she remained seated.  
"Five years"  
"Some time after your thirty-seventh birthday. I um... I can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random. But they're coming. It's gonna happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain. The Doctor, that's his name, does this better"  
"Then be exact, and I will be attentive"  
"There isn't time." Rose said apologetically, tilting her head.  
"There are five years." Reinette insisted to Rose.  
"For you. I haven't got five minutes"  
"Then also be concise."

Rose was taken back when Reinette sat herself down in front of her and looked to her. "Erm... there's say, um... a-- a... a vessel. A ship. A sort of sky ship. And it's full of... well, you. Different bits of your life in different rooms, all jumbled up. I told you it was complicated, sorry"  
"There is a vessel in your world... where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age... while I, weary traveler... must always take the slower path?" Rose gave her a sad smile.  
"He was right about you"  
"So, in five years these creatures will return. What can be done?" Rose sat up straighter to answer Reinette.  
"The Doctor says keep them talking. They're kind of programmed to respond to you now. You won't be able to stop them, but you might be able to delay them a bit"  
"Until"  
"Until the Doctor can get there." Rose answered softly, Reinette brightened slightly at that.  
"He's coming, then"  
"He promises." Rose told her with a small smile.  
"But he cannot... make his promises in person"  
"He'll be there when you need him. That's the way it's gotta be"  
" It's the way it's always been. The monsters and the Doctor. It seems you cannot have one without the other."

Rose smiled softly and chuckled at her other woman's summing up the Doctor, however right it might be. "Tell me about it." Rose paused and proceeded carefully, "The thing is... you weren't supposed to have either. Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you." Reinette now stood and looked down angrily at Rose.  
"Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child. And I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel." She walked to the fireplace, keeping her back to Rose. Rose stood slowly and backed from the room.  
"Good luck Reinette." "I'm very afraid." Reinette said turning to look at Rose. "But you and I both know, don't we, Rose? The Doctor is worth the monsters." Rose nodded to her before walking from the room quickly and rushed back to the tapestry hiding the door back to the ship.

Screams filled the palace five years later as the droids made their move. Using their sharp blades they herd the court of France into the ballroom as the others move against Reinette who now knelt by the fireplace, calling for the man she knew would come to save her. "Doctor!" Behind her King Louis XV urgently insisted,  
"We must go. No one is coming to help us." One of the droids marches into the doorway of her room. Reinette stands and turns, only to gape when she sees it. Her eyes widen with fear as two other droids flank the first. "You are complete. You will come."

Rose ran up to the Doctor, hearing the screams of the court. "You found it, then?" The Doctor "They knew I was coming. They blocked it off." The Doctor yelled, still fighting with the controls.

The droid kept a tight hold on Reinette as they marched her through the halls of the palace. "Where are we going?" She demanded as the two other droids kept the king between them.  
"The teleport has limited range. We must have proximity to the time portal"  
"Your words mean nothing. You are nothing." Reinette snapped at the droid.

Rose looked through the mirror into the ballroom, "I don't get it. How come they got in there"  
"They teleported - you saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick." The Doctor answered, still trying everything he could thick of.  
"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!" Rose rushed to his side but he shook his head.  
"We can't use the TARDIS, we're part of events now"  
"What about smashing through?" Rose asked.  
"No, smash the glass, smash the time window, they'd be no way back." He looked at her and she just spun and looked through onto the chaos.

"You have to go." Rose said softly slowly turning from the window in front of them to look up at the Doctor. "You have to save her. You safe to save all of them and the history of France." Rose managed a weak chuckle, "I mean what if the Revolution happens early cause of this, who knows what that do." He looked at her, shock in his face.  
"Rose if I go through that window I won't be coming back." Rose gave him a brave smile.  
"The Doctor admits that there is something he can't do. That doesn't sound like you." He blinked but she smiled up at, putting on a brave face. "You'll find a way back, I don't know how but I know you will"  
"I can't." The Doctor said, standing right in front of Rose but she looked up to him and softly said two words,  
"You can."

Reinette stood proudly, "Can everyone just calm down? Please." Everyone turned to look at Reinette standing in the center of the ballroom as the others pressed themselves to the walls to escape the droids. "Such a commotion. Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court. And we are French." Holding her chin up, she turned to the droids and elegantly said, "I have made a decision. And my decision is 'no' - I shall not be going with you today. This is my world, I have no need for yours"  
"We do not require your agreement." Two droids come up on either side of Reinette and pushed her to her knees, she offered no resistance but remained calm. The droids point their maiming instruments at her neck. The chief droid approaches her and also points his weapon at her. Reinette looks up at him and smirks.  
"You think I fear you. But I do not fear you, even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured - so will yours."

The neigh of horse drew the attention of the room as the small sound followed by the thud of hoofs echoed in the room. The galloping builds until a great white horse leaps from the mirror itself and send it shattering to the floor. Reinette looks up and gasps as the Doctor comes crashing through and the horse lands smoothly on the ballroom floor. The jaws of the court drop and Reinette smiles as the Doctor stops the horse and climbs down, very out of place in his leather jacket and jeans amongst the French nobles. The king speaks first, "What the hell is going on?" Reinette nervously makes introductions.  
"Oh - this is my lover, the King of France." The Doctor nods to the King who glares at him, the Doctor frowns at him.  
"And I'm the guy saving you so shut it." He approaches the chief droid and pulls back the masks, making the entire court save Reinette gasp. The droid raises it's weapon and the Doctor shakes his head,  
"Forget it. It's over. For you and for me." The Doctor looked up at the empty frame, now there was just a wall behind it. "Seven years bad luck. Try three thousand..." He shook his head and watched the droid look at the frame. 

Rose stared at the broken machine in front of her and sighed. "He had to go." She reminded herself. "History could have changed and then where would we be." Rose looked away from the machine and walked to the TARDIS weakly, feeling sick to her stomach. Stepping inside the TARDIS she sat down in the captains chair and looked at the controls, wishing she could remember how to pilot it. "He'll be back, he's the Doctor." She pulled her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. "Just hurry Doctor, I need you with me." She closed her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek.

The droid tried again and again to teleport but the Doctor shook his head. "The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up." And finally, the clockwork winds down and the droid goes dead, slumping over before the Doctor. The other droids follow suit and slump forwards all around the ballroom. One of them falls backwards causing the clockwork to smash over the floor. The guests whisper amongst one another as the Doctor holds out a hand to Reinette. "You all right?" She nods, looking around as she rises to her feet.  
"What's happened to them?" He released her hand and let it drop to his side, feeling ill as he looked around the room.  
"They've stopped. They have no purpose now."

In her chambers the Doctor stood silently, staring out the window at the stars. Reinette walked up behind him and handed him a glass of wine. Finally after a long moment she looked at him and asked, "In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen"  
"Yeah. I did." The Doctor replied, not looking at her.  
"Yet, still you came." The Doctor nodded.  
"I have a job to do and saving you, protecting your life and your place in history was part of it. Rose was right, I had to come." A sad look crossed Reinette's face as she looked to the floor for a moment,  
"I'm sorry you had to leave her." The Doctor nodded but did look at Reinette.  
"I'll get back to her, I'll just have to take the long path"  
"Three thousand years." Reinette whispered. "I cannot even imagine"  
"Oh I won't have to wait quite that long, this is your world, not mine and I don't belong here." The Doctor paused, considering it, "Fifteen years, Boston Tea Party 1773." Reinette blinked at him, not understanding. "I spend a lot of time on this world but I can't afford to spend too much time here"  
"Because of Rose?" He looked at Reinette who looked sadly at him. "What is she to you?" The Doctor didn't respond to her for a long moment,  
"She's Rose." The Madame de Pompadour looked at him for a long moment before smiling sadly but the spark of jealously did not vanish from her eye as she pressed her lips together,  
"Then I am sorry for removing you from her." The Doctor simply sipped the wine until he froze in shock.

A whirling noise filled the air and the Doctor turned to stare in the direction of the noise. "What is it?" Reinette demanded but he didn't answer her, instead he set down the wine and rushed out of the room towards the noise. Outside in the gardens the TARDIS appeared and a brown haired man in a pinstriped suit steps out of it quickly and moves away from it. He steps around the corner out of sight just before the Doctor comes out the double doors. He gapes at the TARDIS, smiling and not truly believing it. Reinette rushes out behind him and steps back, seeing the strange object. The Doctor doesn't notice her as he steps inside and looks around. "Rose?" Hearing nothing he looks around carefully and he sees none of Rose's things or rather nothing personal of his either. The control room is bare and simple, until his eyes fall on a note at the controls.

Here's my TARDIS, use it to get back to her but don't forget to set the space time coordinates for right back here so I can get a move on.  
The Doctor

The Doctor laughed and folded up the note before returning to the door and stepping outside. "You're leaving me." Reinette said softly. The Doctor nodded and Reinette sighed. "I feel like I never knew you, you entered my life so rarely but always you beat back the nightmares. I feel cheated of my time with you." The Doctor gave her a gentle and he hoped comforting smile,  
"This is your world, not mine, mine's out there and it is waiting for me." Reinette nodded and looked at the TARDIS. "Look it's going to return here in a few minutes." He held up a hand to keep her from talking, "Leave it alone, in fact go inside and see the king, help clean up this mess and don't worry about it or me." Reinette nodded slowly.  
"Thank you Doctor." He smiled.  
"You're welcome." Slowly Reinette started to walk away but she turned back to him,  
"Doctor I-" The Doctor smiled, seeing it in her eyes. "Maybe if you had met me in another life Reinette." She closed her mouth, "Enjoy the one you have." She nodded and raised her chin proudly,  
"Goodbye then Doctor, God speed." Then with all the grace of a queen she left the gardens for the palace. The Doctor smiled for a moment before returning to the TARDIS and setting the coordinates.

Rose looked up from her seat as the familiar and comforting whirling sound filled the air but as she raised her head to look around she was very confused. She paused, trying to locate the source of the noise but slowly a grin spread over her face and she rushed of the TARDIS. Not twenty yards from her a second TARDIS had just materialized. Rose stood perfectly still as if afraid any movement would destroy this fragile hope until the door opened and the Doctor stepped out. Spotting her he grinned and she laughed, launching herself at him before she could stop herself. The Doctor laughed, holding her tightly in the hug and inhaling her scent, glad to be back with her. They clung to the other, both afraid of letting go too soon or holding on too long. After another moment Rose pulled away and looked at the second TARDIS. "Where ya get that one Doctor?" He grinned and lead her away from it, keeping a tight hold on her hand. "On loan from myself in the future." Rose gaped at him but he nodded. "It's true"  
"Nothings normal with you"  
"If you wanted normal you would've stayed in London with Rickey." Rose grinned up at him as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver.  
"What are you doing." He hit the button and the second TARDIS activated, dematerializing.  
"Sending it back to myself." Rose shook her head and squeezed his hand tighter. They stood on the empty ship smiling at each other for a few minutes until Rose sighed and looked around,  
"I don't know about you but I'm sick of this place"  
"I seem to recall a request for warm and sunny." The Doctor teased as they walked back to the TARDIS. Rose grinned at him as he started for the controls, shutting the door behind her.  
"Manage that and I'll love you forever." The Doctor looked up and Rose blushed slightly realizing what she had said. Giving her his goofy grin the Doctor simply teased,  
"Well in that case, Eglocks 7053, here we come!"

Up Next: Coffee with a Stranger

Please remember to review! 


	6. Coffee with a Stranger

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Six: Coffee with a Stranger

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Okay the actual story plot has nothing to do with the story but you'll either love with chapter or want to murder me! Remember kill me and I can't write anymore. Have fun and review! Rose fans check out my new story Defender of the Earth.

The TARDIS rocked and jerked as it exited the Time Vortex to land, sending the two travelers inside reeling to the floor. Laughter filled the air, telling them that the other was alright. "Blimey!" Rose laughed as she stood up to join the Doctor at the controls, "You really need a fasten seat belts signs." The Doctor grinned at her widely from across the console,  
"I'd have to get seat belts first." Rose smiled and shook her head before walking over to join him.  
"Alright so where are we"  
"Rusthe." The Doctor said before heading to the door.  
"Rusthe?" Rose repeated following him to the door. Grinning the Doctor looked back to her, his hands on the TARDIS door handles.  
"Rusthe." he flung the doors open and stepped outside. Still inside, Rose blinked in confusion.  
"That's it Rusthe, that's all you're gonna tell-" Rose stepped outside onto a dock of some kind and stopped as she forgot how to breath. "Wow." Beside her the Doctor grinned, pleased with himself and her reaction.

The sky was soft pink and reflected in the wide ocean in front of the them, a beach of black sand stretched out in front of them. Turning the Doctor motioned for her to look behind them. She gasped again as she turned to see a city completely made of white stone, the building almost looked like the crystal prisms she had seen in shops. As if reading her mind the Doctor began explaining, "This is the planet Rusthe and that is the capitol city Rencop. All the building are grown as crystal formations." Rose took a few steps forward and brushed her hair out of her face, a grin rapidly returning to her face.  
"It's beautiful." The Doctor smiled and stepped up next to her, slipping her hand into his. Turning to look at him, she beamed widely.  
"First a holiday on Eglocks and now this." His smile grew as she slid her tongue over her teeth, "You're spoiling me." He didn't say anything and Rose continued, "I love traveling with you Doctor. I love it." "Me too." He pulled her hand and lead her into the city. "Come on I have an old friend to visit here." 

Rose kept turning her head around to look at the huge crystals that had grown straight up from the ground, "So they plan it all out and grow them?" The Doctor nodded, smiling as he took in the city. The locals were welcoming to them, they seemed to be enjoying Rose's curiosity and awe of their city as much as the Doctor. "Do all the native have six arms?" The Doctor chuckled, "Or is it a regional thing like skin pigments on Earth." The Doctor blinked at her and laughed,  
"Sometimes I forget how smart you are." Rose gave him a soft jab in the arm. The Doctor mocked glared at her but couldn't help but smile at her after a moment. "Rusthens all have six arms, they evolved that way Rose. Very few planets have the variations in the dominant species that Earth does"  
"Oh so you give us credit for being the dominant species?" Rose teased but he smirked,  
"Actually it's the dolphins and the mice." Rose blinked and the Doctor grinned before spotting the building he was looking for. "In here Rose."

The insides of the buildings were even more impressive and the Doctor left Rose in the center of the room, turning about in slow circles as she looked at the carved ceiling. Walking to the main desk, he asked the receptionist who had two hands filing paperwork, one hand working a communication device, two hands doing her nails and one hand fixing her black hair. Seeing the Doctor she stopped all her actions except the filing and smiled. "How may I help you"  
"I'm looking for Doctor Oshmae." She nodded and smiled wider, showing her rounded teeth, prefect for the all plant diet that the Rusthens ate.  
"Of course, who shall I say is calling"  
"The Doctor." She looked up at him and tilted her head,  
"Doctor who"  
"Just the Doctor." Rose said with a smile, joining them and taking the Doctor's hand. The receptionist glanced at between them with a smile as she picked up her hand link and sent in the communication. After a moment she smiled at the Doctor,  
"He says he'll be glad to see you and your wife." 

The Doctor and Rose both opened their mouths to correct her but were stopped when a small Rusthen came scurrying through the door. Rose bit her lip to keep from laughing at the funny little picture the man made, he was only half her size and the size of his fellow Rusthens but he still had six long arms, four of which were hugging himself to keep them from dragging on the ground. He looked delighted to see the Doctor who was in turn smiling. "Doctor!" Oshmae exclaimed, coming up to them, "Good to see you." He looked at Rose and smiled before looking at the Doctor. "She's prettier than the last one." The Doctor didn't look at Rose knowing exactly what kind of look he'd find there. Instead he followed Doctor Oshmae into his lab only a few meters away, leaving Rose to follow.

Rose sighed and took another look at the ceiling, the receptionist looked up too. "What are you looking at?" Looking at her in surprise, Rose gaped.  
"I guess working under it you wouldn't think of it much." She looked back up to see what she was guessing the depiction of their creation myth. "It almost makes me want to cry"  
"It is pretty I guess, I've never really thought of it." Rose shrugged and tilted her head as she looked at one of the figures in the craved pictures.  
"Who is that?" The receptionist stood and leaned over to follow her finger.  
"Oh that's the great love, Badewul." Rose looked at her,  
"Did you just say Bad Wolf." The receptionist laughed and shook her head,  
"No some of the children butcher the name to that but it is actually Badewul." Rose looked up at the figure, it wasn't detailed but rather gave the impression of power and glowing. "According to legend she is called the great lover because she was the first being in the universe and the universe loved her. It is said that she gained power over it and sought to protect it and the life it contained. She's not God but rather the guardian angel of the universe. As I child I always loved the story." Seeing the almost frightened look on Rose's face she asked, "Are you alright?" Rose nodded, "I'm fine." She took a breath trying to steady herself before smiling at the receptionist. "Could you do me a favor." "Of course, are you sure you're okay? You're pale." Rose smiled,  
"I'm fine just need some air, will you tell the Doctor that I'll meet 'im back to the TARDIS." The receptionist nodded,  
"Course"  
"Thanks." Sighing, Rose risked one last glance at the ceiling before heading out the doors.

The Doctor frowned as he listened to Oshmae, "What do you mean there has been attacks, Rusthe has always been a peaceful planet." The little doctor nodded from his stool,  
"I know and they don't attack homes but when they bring our crystal down, almost always someone gets caught in the crossfire." The Doctro sighed and leaned against one of the tables.  
"How many"  
"In the last six months forty-three Rusthens." He shook his head, "The police can't track them." He looked up at the Doctor for a moment, "I'd ask you to but then there's have to be another attack," He shivered, "They are horrible things really all this violence"  
"What started it?" The little doctor sighed,  
"That's the worse part, it started as a religious movement to return to the old ways but then the new leader Kelemer took over and started making it a war"  
"But Rusthe is a religion tolerant?" The Doctor asked and Oshmae nodded excitedly.  
"Oh yes but that isn't enough for them." He sighed, "I fear there may be no stopping them." He looked up at the round calendar on his wall. "Today is the feast of Fernit, they usually attack at them."

The Doctor nodded and straightened up, heading for the door. Small Oshmae fell from his stool and hurried after him, "Where are you going"  
"I'm going to send Rose back to the TARDIS and then take in the feast." Oshmae's face brightened and he beamed,  
"Oh thank you Doctor. Too many lives have already been lost." Stepping into the main enterance he looked around and frowned, not seeing Rose. The receptionist stood up and moved over to him from behind her desk.  
"Excuse me Doctor, Rose said that she would meet you back at the TARDIS." The Doctor sighed in relief, not realizing he had been holding his breath.  
"Thank you." He looked back at Oshmae, "What buildings is the festival located by."

Rose smiled as she navigated her way through the thick crowds that had appeared in the streets. Brightly colored banners and signs covered the sides of the crystal buildings, and the crowds were dressed in colorful robes of red and blue. Smiling she slowly worked her way back to the TARDIS, not wanting to not be there when the Doctor returned. Behind her there was a large square that she had just passed through. The crystal building surrounding the square all tilted in the same direction, forming almost a wall or a thorn crown around it. However, the beauty of it was shattered when an explosion rocked one of the building and sent it sliding into the square. Spinning Rose heard the screams and could see the crystal tower sliding into the area. Without thinking she rushed back for the square.

Rose felt the crowd move in the opposite direction a moment later, but they were stopped as another bomb exploded on the other side of the square, sending another building into the crowd. Bracing herself for the worst, Rose was shocked when a hand grabbed hers tightly and pulled her back against the owner before wrapping an arm around her waist. She shivered at the feel of the strange hand, not understanding why the feel of it calmed her so. Her rescuer titled their head to whisper in her ear, "Trust me."

The brown haired man turned his face away and as the fine white dust filled the air she lost sight of him all together but he kept a tight hold on her hand. Another bomb exploded and the feast officials tried to guide people away but the stranger held on tight to her hand. He lead her thought the crowd skillfully and past the police and emergency crews. Rose didn't speak and neither did he as he lead her down several streets, away from the chaos, the other crystal buildings blocking the noise and the dust. Finally he seemed satisfied that they were far enough way and turned to face her. Rose blinked at the strange man, he had brown hair that seemed to defy gravity and big brown eyes that had a spark of familiar mischievousness. 

He was very attractive but as he reached up and wiped the dust from her face she shivered again at the contact, that shook her deep down. Smirking he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped her face as Rose stared at him. Finally she reached up and caught his hand, stopping his movements. "I know you." She whispered and he grinned before stepping closer to her and looking right into her eyes. Using his free hand, he reached down and took her hand in his own, entwining their fingers. Rose looked down at their hands and gasped before her eyes flew back to his. He grinned, knowing she had figured it out. "Doctor." She gasped, "Doctor it's you." He smiled and then finished wiping her face as she gaped at him.  
"Always knew you were the best." He teased, tucking the handkerchief away. He looked around and grinned after a moment, "Coffee?" Rose nodded, still staring at him stunned and he chuckled, taking her hand and leading her across the street to a Rusthen coffee house.

Rose sat still at one of the small crystal tables in the back corner as she watched the Doctor, this different Doctor, pick up their coffee. Turning back to her, he noticed her staring and grinned widely at her. It was such a different grin, not a mask of insane eagerness but this one was raw joy and it warmed her, his eyes and his manner were lighter. He set the coffee down in front of her and sat down. "The Rusthes actually got the idea of coffee from you humans, I tend to find that theirs is better, doesn't need all that extra stuff you lot use to hide the bitterness." After a moment more of her staring he smirked, "Rose at some point you've got to blink." Snapping out of her daze Rose shook her head,  
"When did you regenerate? Oh my god the explosions!?" He beamed at her broadly, brown eyes shining with amusement,  
"Oh don't worry I didn't." He leaned forward and touched her lips with finger softly to stop her from speaking, "I'm from further in my-his time line. Don't worry though Rose, the me with the big ears is still out there tracking down those criminals after stopping three of the bombs, he thinks you're back at the TARDIS like a good girl." Rose nodded slowly her head still spinning from the new level of strangeness in her life.  
"But he-you're okay?" He beamed at her concern, "Yeah don't worry about regeneration, won't happen for awhile and when it does it was the only option." Rose sipped her coffee still trying to take it all in.  
"So is this the next you?" He shook his head,  
"Not necessarily, I could be the third form down the line." He chuckled, "Takes all the spice out of regeneration if you know what you're gonna get." Rose sipped the coffee and looked at him over the rim for a moment before setting it down.  
"Then why are you here now?" He leaned back and grinned,  
"Saving you of course." Rose resisted the urge to kick him for his smug smile but then he leaned back forward. "And I needed to talk with you." Rose leaned forward,  
"What about?" This new Doctor motioned for Rose to come closed, looking around at the nearby customers. Rose's concern grew and she leaned all the way forward and he smirked before leaning in and kissing her soundly.

The warm rush that filled her made Rose sigh and she relaxed into the gentle touch of his lips against hers instinctively. When he pulled way Rose sighed in disappointment and for a moment forgot where she was before opening her eyes and looking at the future Doctor who grinned at her. Blinking she frowned in confusion and was about to interrogate at him when he raised his hand and caressed her cheek softly. "I came here Rose to beg you not to give up on me." He kissed her again, longer this time and Rose responded to it gently, unable to help herself and still shaken from the strange events of the day. Besides he was still the Doctor, only now he was kissing her. She was pleased to see when they parted that he wasn't so smug but he gave her a happy smile before leaning back in his chair. She took him in for a few minutes and he remained quiet to let her take it in, or try to.  
"What do you mean beg me not to give up on you?" Rose asked, leaning back as well, very confused by this Doctor from the future. He took her hand and kissed it softly, only serving to confuse her further.

"I love you Rose." He said suddenly, "I have for such a long time, even before as you know me now." He gazed at her lovingly, "Almost since I met you"  
'But that was three years ago." Rose whispered and he nodded, "Why don't you tell me?" He sighed and set her hand down.  
"That's why I needed to talk to you Rose." He looked around at the café which was becoming more crowded as people came in to gossip about the attack of the feast. "Will you take a walk with me?" He stood up and held out his hand and Rose again felt the strange of warm feeling in her hand as she took it but now she understood why it was there. She looked down at their hands, the grip was different but the feeling was the same and she smiled at the future Doctor.

They walked in silence until they reached the long black beach and walked on past the TARDIS. Rose looked out over the pink ocean that was trying a dark red as the sun set in the distance. "I destroyed Gallifrey Rose." She looked up at him but said nothing, "There was no other option, the Daleks were winning on every front and conquering Gallifrey would give them control over time, complete unchecked control. So the High Council ordered that someone should open the Eye of Harmony and unleash all that raw power. They chose me." Rose tightened her grip on his hand hoping that the action might comfort him in some small way, "I wanted to die afterwards, I didn't understand how or why I survived but I was looking for something to fight, something to lose to. For the first few months after the Time War I ran from threat to threat always split between happiness and agony when I won and walked away." He sighed and stopped walking before looking straight up at the sky, which was now showing a few stars. 

Rose looked up for a moment before looking back at him, taking in every detail of his face wishing she could take away his pain. He might not be the Doctor she had first met or fallen in love with but he was the Doctor, she knew and felt it all though her now and because of that part of her loved him already. "Then I met this girl, strange girl actually and it still doesn't make sense to me. How a small blond nineteen year old shop girl could come into my life and take it over so quickly and utterly." Rose couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. "She was clever, compassionate and she reminded me of what I had once loved about seeing the universe. She gave me new eyes to see the world through, she believed in me even after seeing my darkest side and before I knew it she was my everything and I loved her." He lowered his head and looked at Rose, a small smile on his lips. Rose struggled with her breathing, a knot in her throat but finally managed to ask, trying not the cry.  
"Then why haven't you told me that yet?" He kissed her softly and it was all Rose could do to keep from forgetting the question as the kiss deepened and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer to him.

It was Rose who broke the kiss, panting for air and shaking. Still smiling he leaned forward, still holding her close and whispered into her hair, "Because you were too good for me." Rose pulled back to stare at him, "Rose Tyler you are young and alive, full of promise and potential but me, I was a ghost Rose. Too old, too jaded, too cold, too cruel and too worn down for you. The new life you gave me, slowly built me back up but it would never be enough." His brown eyes were intense and unrelenting as he stared at her. "You were the best and you deserved the best, that wasn't me and it was never going to be me." Rose shook her head and covered his lips with her index finger, fighting back tears at his pain.  
"Don't you know that I love you, that I would do anything for you, that I would die for you?!" This Doctor kissed her finger, before pulling it down and grinned,  
"Course I do but he doesn't believe that it is really possible for someone like you to love him, he's not ready yet Rose." He sighed, "At that point as much as I loved you with everything in me I wasn't ready to forgive myself and let myself have love, much less something as purely good as yours." He touched his forehead to hers, "As much as I wanted you to be with me every second of every day and to never let you go." He breathed out his eyes close, "Oh Rose you have no idea what I'd do to you if I allowed myself to." Rose shivered at the tone of his voice and made the mistake of looking into his now open eyes, they were passionate and alight with love for her and it made her heart painful contract in her chest as she fought to breathe. 

Slowly she breathed, regaining her control over herself. After another moment she dared to look into his eyes again and asked, "So how do I convince someone who doesn't believe he deserves me that I want him and I love only him." The new Doctor smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear as the wind picked up.  
"You give me time Rose." He smiled, "And that's why I came tonight to ask you a question." Rose straightened up and looked at him, "How long will you give me? How long will you wait for me?" Rose looked up at him and smiled softly,  
"Forever." He smiled and kissed her forehead before looking down at his watch. Returning his eyes to her face he grinned.  
"Times up, I need to send you back and leave before he picks up my TARDIS. If I cross my own time line things can get rather nasty." He kissed her again and when he let her go Rose laughed, "What?" Rose shook her head and he grinned, "Really what?"

"Why do you feel this need to keep kissing me?" Rose asked, "I mean not that I mind but after the last three years my mind is kinda spinning from all this and the kissing isn't helping. We've only kissed while under alien influences at this point." The future Doctor grinned and laughed,  
"Well one Rose Tyler I'm rather fond of kissing you, two I want you to understand exactly what it is you'll be waiting for," Rose laughed and hit him lightly in the arm.  
"You're more arrogant than Jack." He waggled his eyebrows and Rose titled her head, "You're so different." He nodded,  
"I am but you still knew me Rose." He took her hand and held it tight, "I'm still me, I still run around the universe saving planets and tinker with the TARDIS and loving you was part of me as soon as I started this form." Rose smiled, "Did that help with the regeneration fear"  
"A bit." He grinned, clearly pleased with himself.  
"Good now where was I oh yes, third reason I like kissing you," He grinned wider and shoved his hands in his pockets, "I get to do back to my TARDIS to my Rose and she'll be all jealous of herself, should be fun." Rose gaped and blushed as he planted one last quickly kiss on her lips before he strolled away towards Cardiff Castle. Rose turned to go the other way to where her TARDIS was at the bay when she heard him call back, "Oh and don't tell me about this"  
"Then when do I tell him?" "Trust me, you'll know!" Rose watched him walk away, his brown overcoat blowing behind him until he turned a corner behind some of the black rocks and was gone from her view.

Taking a deep breath, Rose stepped into the TARDIS and looked around, the Doctor wasn't in the control room, a good sign that he hadn't returned yet. She rubbed her sore neck and went to her room to clean up before he got back, the idea of lying to him was terrible but she didn't have a choice. Time problems were messy, as she had learned years ago. "Where have you been?" Rose spun to find the Doctor leaning against the wall of the TARDIS hallway in the shadows. She could feel the tense mix of worry and anger radiating from him.  
"I got lost and had to wander a bit." His eyes widened and he stepped forward.  
"You weren't in the square were you?!" Seeing that she wasn't going to correct him, "You should have come right back here!" Rose stepped right up to him and regarded him carefully, would she ever actually get to kiss this man while not under some alien influence. "I'm sorry." She sighed, deciding to concede this time so she could get to bed, the day having been long and emotionally exhausting. "I heard the explosion and didn't know what was going on. I was worried that people were hurt." The Doctor's eyes softened and Rose thought about his future self's words and smiled gently at him. "I'm sorry I worried you." The Doctor was taken back by her behavior, having expected an argument. He gave her a soft smile, his anger gone and now replaced with gentle concern for Rose.  
"It's okay, you're tired why don't you go to bed." Rose nodded and couldn't help but stare at the Doctor a moment longer before standing on her tip toes and kissing his cheek softly.  
"Good night Doctor." Giving him one last smile Rose stepped away and went into her room for the night, leaving one very confused Doctor behind her, happy but confused.

Up Next: Bells of Zyphone I 


	7. Bells of Zyphone I

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Seven: Bells of Zyphone I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: For those of you who are worrying, Jack will return in the season finale and then will be a regular companion all next season (I mean book.) Sorry this chapter took so long, please remember to review!

Black sand blows harshly against the worn down ruins, the columns twisted by the harsh weather. Deep inside, in the lower and previously buried levels a figure in Earth desert clothing in working on the floor, hunched over a section of stone. A brush moves gently but quickly over the stone carvings, the gloved humanoid hand that holds it shaking with excitement. Small triangles arranged in long codes cover the stone and slowly the explorer slips a bar beneath the stone, pushing down hard as the stone is slowly raised. Panting, they slide the stone aside and gasp, looking into the small chamber. The gloved hand reached down and after a moment pulls up three long, thin and circular bells with the same triangle symbols. "Finally."

Green lights flashed in the TARDIS as it shook, spinning through the time vortex. Inside the Doctor and Rose both clung to the controls, laughing and holding down buttons, both with huge grins on their faces. Rose shrieked and tightened her grip as the TARDIS jerked as it exited the vortex before she laughed even louder. The Doctor threw her a joyful manic grin as the TARDIS set down and he gave a cheer of triumph. Rose gasped for air and let go of the console, "Blimey!" She laughed for another moment before composing herself with a huge smile, "If I didn't know better I'd swear you make it a bumpy ride on purpose." "Maybe you'd like to drive." The Doctor remarked, leaning against the console. Rose grinned and lifted her chin slightly.  
"All you have to do is hand over the keys." The Doctor looked at her for a moment as Rose's smile grew until he grinned and nodded,  
"Alright." Rose's eyes widened and her mouth went slack.  
"Alright?" The Doctor laughed and headed for the door,  
"That's what I said isn't it but come on first things first." Rose shook her head as he vanished out the door before she laughed and ran after him.

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS after Rose stepped out, savoring her awed expression as she looked around at the planet. Rose tucked her hair behind her eyes as a light breeze blew past them and into the grand scene before her. She was standing near the edge of a grassy cliff that overlooked a vast desert of black sand and in the light violet sky overhead she could see a ringed moon of white and blue. "Blimey." She whispered, taking a step forward letting the vastness of the alien world overtake her. Behind her the Doctor grinned at the glow in her eyes, his Rose was made for this life, made to travel the universe with him. Rose turned to beam at the Doctor and was given a soft warm smile in return. He moved away from the TARDIS and joined her, still smiling. "Rose Tyler welcome to Zyphone, considered one of the most beautiful and cultured planets in the universe." "Who decides that?" The Doctor looked down at her in confusion and she smiled, her tongue sneaking out between her teeth. "I'm serious who comes here and decides that it is the best." The Doctor laughed at this and shrugged his leather clad shoulders.  
"I don't know, other travelers I guess"  
"But none of them have seen all the universe." Rose pointed out raising her chin, smirking. "Even I haven't seen the whole of the universe." The Doctor replied before looking out, "But I gotta say this planet is up there even by my standards." Rose looked at him for a moment before turning back to the scene in front of her, slipping her hand into the Doctor's.  
"I'd agree with you on that one."

They took it in for a few long moments, breathing in the clean cool air and watching the wind blow the black sand in the desert below. Rose blinked as she saw several large vehicles moving across a nearby section of the desert. "Doctor?" She let go of his hand and tugged on his arm. "Are they supposed to be out there?" The Doctor looked out and blinked in surprise as well.  
"Nope." He crossed his arms, "The Black Desert of Zyphone is sacred or to some cursed"  
"You believe in curses?" Rose teased but the Doctor shrugged.  
"Depends on what you consider to be a curse, technology or mental tricks can do the job very nicely." He chuckled, "A lot of the areas you humans call cursed just have some kind of radiation that you lot can't detect." He clapped his hands as the rounded top vehicles came to a stop at the edge of the desert. "Shall we go see why they're not worried." Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor grabbed her hand and lead her down the cliff side.

The group looked up at them with interest, Rose noted with mild surprise that they looked human. They seemed just as surprised to see Rose and the Doctor. One of them, a tall man with brown hair and a beard walked up to them. "Hello there." He looked at Rose and chuckled, "What are you doing out this way?" The Doctor shrugged,  
"Just enjoying the view." The man grinned,  
"Aye it is wonderful I'll give you that." Rose smiled as the man glanced up at the moon, "Nothing like Earth's moon I'll tell you that." Rose grinned,  
"You're from Earth." He nodded to her.  
"All of us are, left Earth two years ago to work here. I'm Doctor Matthews and this is Doctor Conners." He nodded to a dark skinned women who waved at Rose. "And this is Doctor McAdams." He pointed to a young blond haired man. "What kind of doctors are you?" Rose asked, "And why come here?" Doctor Conners walked up to join her colleague.  
"We're archeologists, we're looking for Tazsute." Rose frowned in confusion but the Doctor beamed at them.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose." He crossed his arms and Rose began to worry, he had that manic grin on his face again. "Tazsute, any luck yet?" Doctor McAdams approached them now curious and Rose noted, a tad bit worried.  
"What do you know of Tazsute Doctor?" "Let's see ancient capitol of the Zegtoghr Empire on Zyphone. It was buried by a massive storm so only stories of it survive." The Doctor raised his eyebrows, "And according to the stories it was controlled by harmonics, legends say that the city was buried by their own design and that there is a set of bells that can uncover it." The three archeologists looked at each other and before Rose or the Doctor could do anything they all pulled out guns, pointing them straight at Rose and the Doctor. 

Rose's eyes widened but she slowly raised her hands in surrender like the Doctor who didn't look nearly as worried as she personally thought her should. "Right then, it's obvious that you think we're who we aren't." Seeing their confusion the Doctor dropped his arms. "As I said I'm the Doctor but I'm not interested in your dig." He grinned, "But judging from your reactions I'd say someone else is, interesting enough to force a group of scientists to carry weapons." Doctor Matthews was the first to lower his gun and Doctor McAdams lowered his last. Matthews took a deep breath but didn't take his eyes off the Doctor and Rose.  
"You're correct Doctor." He stepped a little closer to them. "We have permission from the government to be out here on a scientific dig but this strange group keeps attacking us"  
"We think they believe that they are protecting the city." Doctor Conners supplied, "Most of our workers have run away and the two that didn't had vanished this morning." The Doctor nodded,  
"What else do you know about this mystery group?" Conners sighed,  
"Not much, there are roughly forty of them, they ride Kakayaks"  
"Kakayaks?" Rose asked looking at the Doctor. McAdams rolled his eyes but Matthews smiled,  
"Think of an Earth camel and a horse as one." Rose blinked and frowned making Conners smile.  
"As I said we think that they believe us to be trespassing."

The Doctor was silent for a moment, "Or they could be trying to find the city themselves." He looked at the Doctors, "How are things on the planet right now, are there any rebellions?" Matthews looked worried as he nodded.  
"Yes but why should that matter." "Because in the oldest of the legends about Tazsute it was destroyed by it's own people when a great weapon was created. The story says that the weapon fell under the control of a madman who the people silenced the city to keep him from using it on the rest of the world." The three archeologists all looked at each other before looking back at the Doctor. McAdams went for his gun again but Matthews grabbed his arm tightly.  
"We've never heard this story Doctor, where did you hear this." The Doctor shrugged,  
"I heard it last time I was on Zyphone from a very old local, since you are from Earth it is likely those sorts of stories have never reached you." He became serious again, "I don't know if the story is true but you might just be dealing with someone who thinks it is"  
"A weapon?" Conners shook her head, "Surely you must be joking. Tazsute was a jewel of technology using music to control everything, a peaceful place." The Doctor shrugged.  
"Maybe but that doesn't alter the fact that someone is looking for something there." The Doctor took Rose's hand, pulled her a little closer to him just before saying, "Or the fact that I think they've just surrounded us." Rose and Conners gasped as they all looked to see men in long black desert cloaks on Kakayaks surrounding them.  
"Why does this always happen to us?" Rose asked but the Doctor grinned,  
"We're lucky."

Their captors said nothing to their five prisoners as they lead them into the desert and into a small camp. "Black tents." Doctor Matthews commented softly as he looked around the nomadic camp. "Explains why we never could see them." The Doctor smiled at Rose, reassuring her.  
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Rose whispered softly as they were pushed into one of the tents. The Doctor chuckled,  
"Tazsute is the universe's Atlantis Rose, my people didn't even know if it was real or not"  
"Wow something the Time Lords didn't know, I'm shocked." Rose replied, still in a low voice.  
"You should be." The Doctor grinned manically and lowered his arms as their captors relaxed. A moment later a tall man dressed in the same black desert robes strode into the tent, a heavy medallion of some sort of metal hanging around his neck. Small triangle symbols formed a pattern that instantly caught the attention of the Doctor and the archeologists.

Pulling off his hood he revealed himself to be dark haired with deep skin and only one eye that was nearly black. "Welcome Doctors Matthew, Conners and McAdams." He looked at the Doctor and Rose. "Two more guests than I was expecting." As the man turned his attention to the archeologists the Doctor took Rose's hand gently and gave her a small that she returned. "I am Khan." He paused for dramatic effect, "I am the leader of the Golden Rebels." The Doctor grinned, pleased with himself. "And you my dear doctors are going to give me the key to Tazsute and the weapon. Give me the Bells of Zyphone" The three archeologists looked at each other. Mathews shook his head,  
"Look mate, we don't have the bells." Khan smirked and nodded, one of the robed men grabbed their packs and tossed them to his fellow troops. All was silent as the men dug through the bags until one of the them pulled out a tightly wrapped bundle from Matthews' pack. Conners and McAdams looked at him in shock.  
"I didn't," He looked at his colleagues desperately, "I didn't find those I swear." Khan smiled coldly as he took the bundle and unwrapped it to reveal the three shining bells.

Doctor Conners looked fiercely at Khan, "It doesn't matter anyway, you don't know the location of the city." Khan looked at her still smiling as he rewrapped the bells and put them into his robes. "There my dear is where you are wrong," He looked at the three archeologists, "You three aren't the only ones that can translate the old text, I am quite able in it myself." He clapped his hands and his men began tying all five of them up. "But don't worry the five of you I can still make good use of."

The Doctor kept close to Rose as they were loaded into a desert scooter with their guards operating it. "To the city." Khan said over a communication device from another scooter. Rose looked at her fellow prisoners who were glaring at each other.  
"You found the bells and didn't tell us." McAdams hissed. Conners shook her head,  
"How could you, I thought we were in this together." The Doctor rolled his eyes and glanced at the guards.  
"Maybe he didn't. Divide and conquer and all that." They looked at him and he sighed. "Honestly, Khan might still need the three of you alive despite what he says but he isn't gonna want you working together to escape now is he. So he finds the bells and has his men slip them into your packs to make you turn on each other." He leaned back and checked the binds as the three other doctors fell silent in thought.  
"Can you get out of them?" Rose asked softly, the Doctor smiled and whispered,  
"Sonic screwdriver is in my pocket, pull it out." Rose beamed and turned her body so her bound hands could reach into his pocket. Handing him the sonic screwdriver she bit back a laugh at the confused look on their fellow prisoners faces. 

The Doctor checked the guards before activating the screwdriver, he set the cuffs in his lap and undid Rose's. When she moved to take them off he caught her hand, "Leave them on Rose." Rose raised an eyebrow and slipped her tongue between her teeth in amusement.  
"Never knew you liked it that way." The Doctor chuckled and shook his head at her before he began freeing the archaeologists. He motioned for them to leave their cuffs on but unlocked.  
"I'd almost say you were channeling Jack." He whispered to Rose before leaning back in his seat and putting his cuffs back on. Rose smirked,  
"Well he did have three years to corrupt me." At the Doctor's panicked look Rose chuckled, "Calm down Doctor, Jack knew the TARDIS fraternization rules"  
"There are rules?" The Doctor asked raising his eyebrow.  
"Jack said you made them quite clear when you dipped me that first night." 

The Doctor was saved from replying when the scooters stopped, their guards turned and pointed their guns at them. They stayed still until one of the rebels opened the door from the outside and motioned for the prisoners. Stepping out of the scooter Rose had to blink as the black sand reflected light into her eyes. She heard the mutters of the Doctor and the other and slowly opened her eyes to see a huge valley of black sand with two. "There's nothing here." She whispered to the Doctor who gave her his usual affection but Rose you are so silly smile.  
"Oh no Rose look at how the desert sinks down in almost a perfect circle." He shook his head, "Fantastic, you'd never see it from above since the sand's black but the desert has sunk because there is something under there." Rose looked back out at the desert.  
"So what are we going to do?" Rose asked, "Dig?" The Doctor gave her a look which silenced her as Khan stepped out of his scooter and threw open his arms.  
"Behold the ancient site of the most glorious city in the universe"  
"I always rather liked Yukitona." Rose looked up at the Doctor.  
"We haven't gone there before." The Doctor grinned,  
"I'll take you there next Rose."

Khan ignored them and instead gently unwrapped the bells. Pulling a small hammer from his robes he held the bells high with his right hand and with his left gave the bells a soft hit. Rose almost sighed at the sweet note that echoed from the bells and smiled feeling warm all over. The Doctor frowned at her reaction and turned to see the rest of the humans reacting the same way, the planet natives didn't seem affected. After a long moment the sound intensified and they all snapped out of their traces. Rose gasped loudly as the ground began to shake, she nearly dropped off her cuffs, only the pressure of the Doctor's still falsely bound hands on her arm prevented her. The black sand poured off in cascades as large stone domes began to rise from the sand. Khan laughed in triumph as the city rose from the sand, he hit the bells again and again, the notes calling the city up from the depths. "Interesting technology." Rose muttered, "Any idea how it works." The Doctor smiled,  
"Where some use verbal commands or key pads they used different notes and sounds." Rose nodded and looked at the still rising city.  
"I suppose it would be wishful thinking that you had a plan." The Doctor looked at her and she shrugged, "I mean after all the TARDIS is all the way across the desert, that's if you remember which way we came." "I have an excellent sense of direction." Rose rolled her eyes.  
"All men say that"  
"I'm not human Rose Tyler." Rose smirked and shrugged,  
"Some things are universal Doctor."

At Khan's maniacal laughter they looked back to the city, the smooth black stone reflected the rays of the suns from the large twisting towers and smooth domes. Behind them Rose could hear Matthews and Conners whispering excitedly, a glance over her shoulder revealed McAdams to be gaping at the city. She looked back to see the Doctor grin at the city for a moment before she saw his eyes shift. Rose calmed herself, knowing very well what that look in his eye meant, the Doctor was planning how to stop the enemy. She looked out over the city, only problem was that with a city that huge, where could this weapon be?

While the city had been grand from a distance it was a whole other story inside it as they were lead through the streets. Rose shivered despite the heat, she could see into the homes of the former citizens and the wide streets standing empty felt wrong. The Doctor, like his captors was examining everything for any indication of the weapon. "It will most likely be in a scientific building or in the main city administration hall." Khan hissed. "Spread into four groups." he pointed to various guards, "Each group take one of the doctors." Khan looked at the Doctor and Rose with a smirk that made Rose want to shiver, "These two will come with me."

The Doctor and Rose tried to ignore the two guards with guns behind them as they followed Khan. Rose kept looking up at the strange symbols, she whispered to the Doctor, "Why can't I read their language? I thought the TARDIS could translate anything"  
"It's music Rose, collections of sound notes that don't have a literal translation." The Doctor replied in a low whisper, "I'm trying to figure it all out." He nodded to one section of the wall, "See part of that is a written language." Rose looked but all she could make out seemed like gibberish, "The music gives it context." Khan turned to them and smirked,  
"Very astute Doctor." The Doctor blinked at him,  
"When did I introduce myself." Khan smirked.  
"The Doctor needs no introductions." Khan pulled out his gun as a guard grabbed Rose from behind, putting a gun to her neck. "Now Doctor," Khan said as he stepped back and pointed to a large wall covered in the symbols. "Open the vault"  
"How do you know what it is?" The Doctor asked, resisting the urge to look at Rose. Khan looked evenly at the Doctor.  
"I am much older than I look." The Doctor stared at him for a long moment before his eyes widened in surprise.  
"You're from Tazsute, what happened"  
"I fell through time Doctor." Khan yelled, his hand shaking, "I fell through time when I hit a rift and fell onto Earth in the 71st century. My father was Emperor here." He looked to his soldiers. "The old order will rise and the new shall fall beneath my heel with the power of my people."

The Doctor looked at Rose, "How did you find out about me? What do you need me for?" Khan laughed loudly,  
"Torchwood has a very large file on you Doctor." The Doctor frowned, not recognizing the name. "I need you to find the weapon." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.  
"You're the prince and you can't find the weapon." Khan snarled at him.  
"Find the weapon Doctor, tell me how to use it or Rose Tyler dies."

Up Next: Bells of Zyphone II 


	8. Bells of Zyphone II

Across Time and Space by Petyon Halliwll Chapter Eight: Bells of Zyphone II

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: I am very proud of how this book is going, personally I think it is brilliant. Sorry for the delay but my ending had to be completely rewritten, the new episode has me all motivated again.

Rose forced herself to calm down, trying to ignore the pressure of the alien weapon against her neck. "What if there is no weapon?" The Doctor asked calmly, trying back to try and read the strange musical text. Khan growled at the Doctor fiercely,  
"What else could have destroyed this city?! Tazute would not fall to just anyone or anything!" He tightened his grip on Rose almost painfully making the Doctor nod.  
"Alright." His eyes were cold as he swung them back to the wall and they scanned the area over and over again trying to find something. 

Behind him Khan nervously tightened his grip on Rose who was still trying to remain calm by looking at the wall too. Suddenly she frowned and tilted her head to the side, her lips opening in surprise as she saw a shape appear in the pattern of dots. The howling head of a wolf. Her hands at her side tightened nervously and she watched as the Doctor tilted his head as well before glancing sharply to her. "What is it?!" Khan demanded as the Doctor kept his eyes on Rose. Rose gave a small nod to indicate to him that she had seen the pattern too. After a long moment the Doctor looked back at Khan and gave his usual cheeky grin.  
"Don't suppose you brought an instrument." Khan nodded and slowly eased one of his hands inside his heavy robe and pulled out an oddly shaped flute. "This is a kazax, an instrument of my people." The Doctor nodded and pointed to a place a few paces from himself underneath the outcropping of the building, near the door.  
"Fantastic, that's prefect now play the highest note followed by the lowest on this point." Khan gave the Doctor a sharp look and pressed the gun harder against Rose's neck. "Oh relax, I'm just as curious as you." Khan sneered and grabbed Rose's arm with the hand holding the kazax.  
"The files say this girl is very important to you." The Doctor nodded.  
"Yeah so while you and your men are in control the city I'm not going to do anything stupid now am I?" Khan considered this slowly before easing his weapon away carefully and stepping back from Rose. "Both of you stay where you are." The Doctor nodded to Rose and Khan, Rose gave her nod of agreement. Keeping an eye on the Doctor, Khan raised the kazax to his lips and blew the two notes. The Doctor smirked as they heard a strange grinding sound. "It worked!" Khan looked to the door in raw excitement but the Doctor glanced up as a piece of the outcropping fell onto Khan. 

Rose recovered from her surprise and looked at the Doctor as he picked up the kazax. Grinning at her he wiped it off before blowing out a few notes. Grinning he reached back for Rose's hand as the large door began to rise, smiling Rose jumped over Khan's unconscious body and took his offered hand. They stepped into the large and dark chamber, Rose tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand as the door slid shut behind them leaving them in total darkness. "One second Rose." Rose felt him slip his hand out of hers and a moment later one long note echoed through the room. The room suddenly was lit so brightly both had to close their eyes to adjust after a long moment. The Doctor opened his first and whispered,  
"Roe you've got to see this." Rose opened her eyes and gasped.

The room was huge with a high vaulted ceiling with glowing crystals growing from it, surrounded by elaborate designs and sculptures. The floor was dusty with black sand but Rose could still make out the colors of a large mosaic. She looked at the Doctor to find him staring ahead at a large statue with what appeared to be an altar. Rose blinked at it in mild confusion before looking back at the Doctor. "So not a weapon." The Doctor didn't say anything but walked forward to the altar. He looked down at writing on it and frowned. "What is it?" Rose asked stepping up next to him, peering around his frame at the altar. "It's the basis of a time machine." Rose blinked at him in surprise but he looked up at the statue. Following his gaze, Rose looked up at the statue. It was a woman, her features had been worn down by sand and time but her stance was gentle and loving and Rose felt a strong pull to it that she could not explain. "Goddess of Time." Rose jumped in shock, the Doctor's voice breaking through to her and found him peering at her carefully.  
"Pardon?" The Doctor seemed to relax at her confusion and nodded back to the statue.  
"These people were experimenting with time travel when the city was buried"  
"Could it have been some side effect accident?" Rose asked stepping away from the altar and trying to keep herself from looking back at the statue. 

The Doctor looked down at the altar. "No I don't think so, they were in the early phases, time bubbles, regressing things and the lot, nothing big enough to bury the city. Much less bury the city intact." He turned and leaned against the altar, folding his arms in deep thought. Rose bit her lip nervously,  
"What about being destroyed by someone else who had time travel." The Doctor looked up at her sharply,  
"You mean the Time Lords." Rose nervously added,  
"Or Time Agents or Daleks." The Doctor sighed and shook his head.  
"Unfortunately the Time Lords are the most likely candidates. I can remember a few times when they prevented others from developing time travel." He sighed and looked around, "But no this wasn't caused by an outside force." "How do you know." The Doctor gave Rose a small smile,  
"No one took credit for it." Rose chuckled as the Doctor stood back up and starting moving to a wall. "On the positive side of things, they wrote down everything where we can actually get to it." Rose smiled and leaned against a column as the Doctor began his work.

Two soldiers gently helped their leader Khan to his feet who looked around wildly for the Doctor and Rose. Snarling like a wounded animal he clawed at the door before regaining his controls. "Round up the others and bring the other doctors here. I have to get in this building." He ran his hand over the door gently, "The secret is in here, I know it." "How sir?" Khan looked back over his shoulder at one of the robe clad men.  
"Because this is the one building no one was ever to enter." The soldier nodded slowly, backing away at the crazed look in his leader's face before turning to run off and find the others. Khan leaned against the door and rested his head against it. "Oh sweet Kamdie, oh great goddess grant me the power I need."

The three doctors looked at each other nervously as the soldiers brought them before the door. Doctor Matthews stepped forward first, trying to ignore the firm stare of Khan as he inspected the door. Behind him Doctor Conners frowned and tilted her head to the left and sighed before shifted it to the right and blinking. Khan caught the expression and backed away to copy it. He frowned and looked at Conners. "What is it woman?" When Conners stared at him blankly he grabbed her wrists harshly. Matthews did not move but rather inspected the pattern and motioned by McAdams to stay still. "It-it looks like a wolf howling." Conners muttered, "But it is titled, I'm sure it doesn't mean anything." Khan frowned at her,  
"What is a wolf?" Conners fumbled for words.  
"It is just an animal on Earth, other planets have similar creatures as well. It is a predator and pack animal," She rambled on terrified of the man in front of her. "It usually hunts at night" Conners trailed off unsure of what else to say.  
"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf." McAdams muttered looking at the door. Khan dismissed them and looked back at Matthews.  
"Well Doctor Matthews, anything yet?" Matthews shook his head.  
"I can't read this." Khan snarled again and pulled out his weapon, holding it to Conners' temple.  
"I suggest you try harder Doctor Matthews."

Rose jumped in surprise when the Doctor gave a triumphant yell. "I've finally got the musical scale key all figured out Rose, we should be able to read the language now"  
"We?" Rose asked blinking at him in surprise. He nodded.  
"The TARDIS is connected to us so she now understands the musical context and thus will translate." Rose smiled at the excited look on his face and shook her head at him, a kid in a candy store came to mind. Still smiling she turned to the wall and was surprised to see the words line up and make sense to her.  
"So what are we looking for?" "Anything talking about the time travel experiments." Rose nodded and glanced over towards the Doctor but her eyes settled on the statue, it was so familiar some how. Shaking off the odd feeling Rose went back to reading the rows and rows of planetary history.

Matthews sighed as he turned to look at Khan. "I know how to get in." Khan frowned at him, "And how do I know this isn't another trick, like the Doctor pulled." Shuddering Matthews looked between Conners and McAdams.  
"It is no trick." Khan looked at him carefully and smirked.  
"Very well." He released Conners and then turned and fired a single energy bolt into McAdams. The soldiers laughed as the young archeologist hit the ground. Khan smirked at the horrified Matthews and Conners. "Just so you understand how serious I am old man." He motioned to the door, "Now open it."

The Doctor heard the gears moving before there was any change, "Rose come over here." Rose blinked in surprise and was about to inquiry until she saw the look on his face. Nodding she rushed over to the Doctor only to try to yell when he shoved her into a small alcove behind one of the pillars. "Stay quiet and hidden." The Doctor stepped away from her as the door opened, Rose bit back a yell as the Doctor was surrounded. Khan strode in and glared at the Doctor.  
"Where is the girl?" The Doctor glared right back,  
"After you hit a sour note I sent her back to our ship to get help." The Doctor smirked, "Reinforcements will be arriving any moment." The soldiers glanced nervously between themselves but Khan just smiled.  
"So Doctor have you figured it out yet?" The Doctor gave Khan a small amused smile,  
"Oh they tried to build a time machine to stop a plague but it fell into the hands of a tyrant so the people called on the Goddess of Time to destroy the machine, the tyrant and the city itself." Khan frowned,  
"Then there is no weapon." He stepped away from the Doctor and looked up at the statue. "It is true then that she came"  
"I thought you were looking for a weapon"  
"The legend that the Goddess can be summoned back is true."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "And you think you have the means to control a goddess." The Doctor laughed, "I've been around long enough to hear some really bad plans but that is the worst one ever." Khan smirked at the Doctor.  
"Not really for according to the texts that I found, the Goddess was actually one of the people, she took an earthly form to protect us and by giving her another earthly form I can control her"  
"What texts?" Matthews asked from behind them, now chained to a column with Conners. Khan smiled as he walked around the altar to the base of the statue. The Doctor groaned when Khan opened a small secret vault under the statue's feet. "I heard my mother speak of the ancient spells long ago."

Khan removed a large stone tablet from the vault and stood at the altar. The Doctor looked at his guards carefully, waiting for any sign of weakness or fear of what Khan was doing. To be completely honest, the Doctor wasn't in a hurry to leave, he'd dealt with all kinds of gods before, one more wasn't going to be a problem. Then as Khan began chanting he heard Rose groan in pain. One of the soldiers heard it as well and moved towards her hiding spot. The remaining three troops held the Doctor back as Rose was brought out by the altar. Khan glanced at Rose but did not stop chanting. The Doctor looked on in concern as he saw Rose's face drain of color and her body tighten in pain. She fell to her knees next to the altar and looked up at the statue almost imploringly.

Rose groaned and grabbed onto the rough edges of the stone altar for support as the icy feeling overwhelmed her. Falling to her knees she grabbed her stomach, certain that she was dying as she insides twisted and revolted against her and their natural functions. The dull pounding in her ears grew until she could no longer hear Khan chanting or the Doctor struggling against the guards. Her breath shortened as she gasped for air and closed her eyes, trying to find a way to survive. Then it was over, the pain was gone. 

Khan laughed in triumph when Rose stood slowly and raised her eyes to look at them. Her normally brown eyes were glowing an almost violent gold. The soldiers drug the Doctor back a few steps, despite his struggles. "Rose!" The Doctor called out to her, only to realize that this time Rose didn't seem to respond to him. Khan moved forward slowly towards Rose before bowing his head to her. "Kamdie." The Doctor tried again to pull away from the guards and looked over at Conners and Matthews who were frozen in shock. Rose looked at Khan before raising her eyes and looking around. "Where am I?" Her voice was deep and echoed through the halls, the Doctor felt ill as he realized that it was neither Bad Wolf nor Rose. "You are in your temple at Tazsute." Khan replied, "I, the rightful Emperor Khan have called you back to restore the kingdom that served you."

Rose or rather Kamdie looked at Khan for a long moment before looking down at her hands. "These hands are not mine," She breathed in deeply, "Nor is this body. Almost but no longer." Kamdie looked over at the doctors and the soldiers. "Release those you hold by force and I shall hear your plea." Khan blinked and for a moment was ready to refuse as he rose to his feet,  
"I fear they may harm you great Goddess of Time." Kamdie looked at him sharply,  
"I do not need you to protect me." After a moment Khan nodded to the guards who released the Doctor, Conners and Matthews. Not wasting any time the Doctor stepped closer to Kamdie.  
"Rose? Can you hear me?" Kamdie looked at him in mild confusion for a long moment and then despite Khan's protests stepped closer to him. The brilliant gold eyes dimmed slightly to a light golden brown that the Doctor searched for signs of Rose. "Rose." Kamdie repeated. "The body's name." The Doctor nodded mutely. "Human form of the Bad Wolf." The Doctor again could only nod while Kamdie looked up at him and smiled. "Then one Time Lord survives." She raised a hand to the Doctor's face, touching a cheek gently. "Then you survive, that is good." "Who are you?" The Doctor asked quietly.  
"One of Badewul's forms. One part of the Goddess of Time. Here they called me Kamdie." She smiled a soft smile that was so like Rose's. 

Khan grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her away from the Doctor. "Goddess Kamdie, I released you! Destroy those who oppose me and restore the old world!" Khan ignored the return of the harsh glow. "I command you as the one who brought you back." Kamdie's eyes flashed and Khan was thrown against the far wall. The soldiers dropped their weapons and ran from the temple, back into the sun filled black desert.  
"I was already here, here in this girl, here in this time and place in space." She stared hard at Khan. "The old world is gone and even I can not restore it." She straightened up proudly, "Every thing has it's time and everything dies." The glow intensified as she raised her arms and spanned out her fingers. "When they begged me to end it I left too much buried beneath the sand. Not this time." 

Everything shook around them as Kamdie slowly rose into the air, black sand swirled around her like a serpent before striking out. The Doctor tore his eyes away from her and rushed to Conners and Matthews. Using the sonic screwdriver he set them lose and yelled over the howling wind, "Run to the speeders and get as far from here as you can." Conners looked up at the Doctor,  
"What about you?" The Doctor grinned,  
"I'm a Time Lord she doesn't want to hurt me but I don't think you fall into the protected sphere." Matthews nodded and grabbed Conners hand as they both ran from the temple. The Doctor looked back over at Khan to see him gripping the altar and yelling at Kamdie.  
"This is my kingdom, my empire, my world!" The howling wind lessened as Kamdie looked down at him,  
"Your world is dead, leave now and find a life beyond it." She looked over at the Doctor. "Learn to live after the pain and loss." Khan shook his head and tightened his grip.  
"I will not leave"  
"They left." Kamdie said softly, "When they were about to destroy themselves I came and ended it, they left to find another life." Khan glared at her,  
"I will not leave." Kamdie nodded, her smile gone as she raised her hand again, her blond hair swirling dangerously behind her.  
"Then you shall die." 

At her final words it all crumbled away underneath the black sand which began to fill the room. The Doctor rushed over to Khan's bag and pulled out the three bells careful not to ring them, running past Khan the Doctor reopened the vault beneath Kamdie's statue and slid the bells into it. He looked back to see Kamdie smile and nod in approval at him. The Doctor looked around nervously as the black sand rose to a level that threatened him and Rose. "Kamdie will you kill Rose?!" Kamdie looked surprised at his question and shook her head.  
"I cannot kill myself Doctor." He blinked and she laughed at the look of confusion on his face,  
"You're part of Bad Wolf." She smiled and reached out a hand to him.  
"Don't try to answer all the questions too early Doctor." She laughed Rose's soft laugh, putting him at ease, "It would take all the fun out of it." The Doctor took her offered hand and closed his eyes when the sand thickened and he lost all feeling in his body.

After merely a moment the Doctor was aware that the sand had stopped and he could see the cooler air of the night. He breathed deep as he opened his eyes and looked around to see the black desert in front of him and the TARDIS only a few meter from himself and Rose. Rose looked up at him, still pale but smiling nervously. The Doctor brushed a loose strand of her hair behind an ear. "How do you feel"  
"A little sick to my stomach but otherwise fine." Rose took in another breath of the fresh air.  
"Any idea what just happened Doctor"  
"Do you remember?" Rose nodded slowly,  
"Sort of, I was there but I was just watching." She looked up at him, "What she said about Badewul Doctor. I've heard that name before, not just Bad Wolf but Badewul." The Doctor nodded and seeing Rose's shiver took off his jacket and put it around her before leading her towards the TARDIS. Rose smiled at him as they entered the ship, "I wish I knew what all of this meant." The Doctor looked at her for a long moment as she sank into the control room chair before smiling,  
"Well we've got all the time in the universe to figure it all out." He gave Rose a comforting smile, "And I am positive that we will Rose Tyler."

Up Next: The Impossible Planet 


	9. The Impossible Planet

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Nine: The Impossible Planet

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Hey I'm curious, when you review tell me your favorite part of the series! Was it when the Tenth Doctor showed up to snog Rose or when Rose blew the master away or anything else you loved! I think my favorite episode is Arcadian Nights and my favorite one parter is the Tenth Doctor snogging Rose. This chapter is going to freaky long so bear with me, some parts have been taken out for length but I'm sure you know them.

The wheezing of the TARDIS echoed in the small metal space as it slowly materialized, the machine gave an odd lurch and what sounded like a cough but materialized fully after another moment. The Doctor stepped out and looked at the machine as Rose stepped out as well, "I wonder what is wrong with her. It's like she didn't want to land." He frowned, "Something here is throwing the TARDIS off, it pulled us in but then the TARDIS didn't want to materialize." Rose nodded.  
"Then there is only one thing to do." The Doctor looked over at her, crossing his arms. She grinned at him, "Snoop."

The Doctor grinned and pushed open the door, "Open Door 15." Rose stopped,  
"Sounded like a computer." The Doctor nodded as they stepped into another small area and pushed open yet another door. "Open Door 16"  
"Some sort of base... moon base, sea base, space base... they build these things out of kits." He pushed another door. Rose paused listening,  
"Glad we're indoors - sounds like a storm out there"  
"Human design - you've got a thing about kits. What is it with you apes and your kits" Rose chuckled and shook her head as they walked down the long corridor.  
"You know you love us." He smirked at her.  
"Some of you." He pushed open yet another door and they enter a canteen area. The Doctor looked around, "It's a sanctuary base. Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath..." He pointed door as Rose stepped nearer to listen. "Someone's drilling."

Rose looked past the Doctor, "Welcome to hell." The Doctor blinked at her.  
"Oh it's not all that bad Rose." She smiled and pointed behind him.  
"No, over there Doctor." He turned to see the words ▒Welcome to Hell' scrawled on the wall. The Doctor frowned as he eyes moved down to the symbols underneath, moving to the wall he ran his fingers over the symbols. Rose moved next to him. "Looks familiar somehow"  
"I can't read it." Rose looked at him in shock.  
"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well. We should see English like on Zyphone after you broke the code"  
"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means... this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." He stood suddenly and headed for a door, "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge." The Doctor pulled open the door only to push Rose behind him as several creatures moved forward.

"We must feed." They said together, the white orbs they held glowing as they moved forward. Rose turned to see them coming through the other doors.  
"Doctor!" He turned to look and they back up as more entered the room, "We must feed." After a moment the Doctor taps one of the orbs the creatures held out to him. "You. If you are hungry." The Doctor blinks in confusion.  
"Sorry what was that"  
"We apologize. Electromagnetics have interfered with our speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?" Rose jumped as one of the doors swung open and an older man with a younger man and a young woman entered.

"What the hell," The older man gaped as he looked at them. After a moment he walked up to them and looked at them carefully before bringing his communicator, strapped to his wrist to his mouth. "Captain... you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean two... living... people. Just standing here, right in front of me." Through the communicator another voice answered back,  
"Don't be stupid, that's impossible"  
"I suggest telling them that"  
"But you're a sort of space base, you must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible." Rose said looking at them carefully.  
"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" The man asked roughly. The Doctor shook his head,  
"Our ship landed here, we were having trouble." Another voice over the computer, human this time sent everyone into action.  
"Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake Point 5 on its way." The older man pried open a door,  
"Through here! Now. Quickly, come on!" Grabbing Rose's hand the Doctor pulled Rose through the door as the man yelled, "Now!"

As the sirens continue to sound, they come through into another corridor which is shaking as smoke rises from the floor. "Move it, come on! Quickly! Move it!" They push forward as the smoke thickens and sparks fly all over, the Doctor keeping a tight grasp on Rose's hand as they step into a control room. Everyone in the room turned to look at them, jaws slack in shock. Near the main controls, a dark skinned man looked up and gaped,  
"Oh, my God. You meant it"  
"People! Look at that! Real people!" The brown haired woman standing a few feet away said.  
"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose... Rose Tyler, and-- and this is the Doctor"  
"Come on... the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be... no. They're real!" A dark haired man added, jumping up from his station.

The dark skinned man, the captain scowled slightly, "Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up, the quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds!" Danny nodded and returned to his post as the captain glanced at them, "Sorry, you two, whoever you are. Just... hold on. Tight"  
"Hold on to what?" Rose asked.  
"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?" Grabbing some nearby rails, the Doctor and Rose looked at the captain.  
"Where are we?" The Doctor asked, "What is this planet's name?" A fawn haired woman from the controls answered,  
"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" At his surprised look she shook her head, "You really don't know, do you?" "And... impact!" The captain yells.

As the base stops shaking, Rose begins to let go but the Doctor shakes his head, "Let go when they do." He told her motioning to the crew who were still holding on, Rose tightened her grip in time for another shake. "Okay, that's it." The captain says. "Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida?" The fawn haired woman nodded,  
"Yeah, yeah!" "Danny?" The dark haired boy answered.  
"Fine"  
"Toby"  
"Yeah, fine"  
"Scooti"  
"No damage"  
"Jefferson"  
"Check!" The older man they had met first yelled.

The Doctor helped Rose up as she shook her head, "You alright?" Rose nodded slowly,  
"Yeah I'm just feeling a little sick is all." The Doctor gave her a long look, only to receive a smile in reply before he looked over at the Captain who was looking up at screen.  
"The surface caved in. I deflected it onto storage 5 through 8. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link." The young blond boy shook his head,  
"That's not my department"  
"Just do as I say, yeah?" He leaves the room after a moment.

Ida returned to the main controls, "Oxygen holding. Internal gravity 56.6. We should be okay." Listening to the noise Rose looks up at the walls,  
"Never mind the earthquake, that's... that's one hell of a storm. What is that, a hurricane?" Scotti looked over at her from beside Ida.  
"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum"  
"Then what's shaking the roof?" Rose asked. Ida shook her head in amazement, "You're not joking. You really don't know? Well - introductions. FYI, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir... you've met Mr Jefferson, he's head of security. Danny Bartock. Ethics committee"  
"Not as boring as it sounds." Danny said to them, they smiled at him.  
"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, archaeology, and this..." Ida places her hands on Scooti's shoulders, "is Scooti Manista. Trainee maintenance." She walked over to a set of controls on the wall, "And this... this is home."

Zach looked over at them, "Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad." The panels open and the room is flooded with red light as a black hole is revealed above them.  
"That's a black hole." Rose muttered, "Boy I never wanted to see one of those again"  
"But that's impossible." The Doctor muttered, Zach nodded.  
"I did warn you"  
"We're standing under a black hole." Ida looked at him,  
"We're in orbit"  
"But we can't be"  
"You can see for yourself. We're in orbit"  
"But we can't be." The Doctor said firmly.  
"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss"  
"But it should pull us in." Rose muttered. "We should be dead"  
"And yet... here we are. Beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board."

Rose and the Doctor joined Zach, Ida and Toby around the controls as Zach brought up a hologram of the black hole. "That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gen 5"  
"In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called 'Kroptor'. The bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out. Because it was poison." Rose shivered as she felt something brush the back of her neck, her stomach churned almost painfully as she sought to ignore it. The growing ache she had learned in her mind that was the coming of Bad Wolf, it was so slow this time like it couldn't come out but wanted to desperately. Turning her attention back to the conversation she heard Zach say.  
"This planet's generating a gravity field. We don't know how - we've no idea, but... it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there. As a funnel. A distinct... gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in"  
"You flew through that thing?" The Doctor asked, surprised.  
"By rights, the ship should've been torn apart. We lost the Captain... which is what put me in charge"  
"You're doing a good job." Ida told him firmly. He shook his head,  
"Yeah. Well, needs must"

Rose sighed and sat down, shivering and tilted her head trying to listen to the conversation, something about energy and power with three sixes and the lot but she couldn't focus. "Badewul." Her eyes snapped open and she looked around but only found Toby standing next to her,  
"Rose are you okay?" She nodded,  
"Yeah just a sick to my stomach" She turned to look back at the Doctor.  
"You stupid apes. You should pack your bags and get back in that ship and fly for your lives. Get away from this thing"  
"You can talk! And how the hell did you get here?" Ida demanded.  
"Oh, I've got this um... this... it's hard to explain, it just sort of... appears"  
"We can show you, we parked down the corridor from um... oh, what's it called? Uh, habitation area..." Rose trailed off,  
"Three"  
"Do you mean storage six?" Zach asked carefully, the Doctor nodded and then slowly stopped,  
"Storage six, but you said... you said... you said storage five to eight." Without another word he rushed from the room, Rose shook off Toby and took off after him.

They ran through the doors until they reached Door 16, which wouldn't open. The Doctor leaned weakly against a wall as Rose looked out the window. "It's gone isn't it?" She asked quietly. The Doctor nodded and looked up at her, his eyes widened sightly as she leaned against the door. "Rose are you okay?" Rose shook her head and took his hand.  
"I'm not Doctor." She looked up at him, "I think it's the TARDIS or this place or something." She took a deep breath, "Bad Wolf is trying to come out, I can feel it in my head but it can't. It's clawing and howling and..." She trailed off and the Doctor took her face in his hands.  
"Focus Rose. We will get out of this, it will be fine." He looked away at the sound of footsteps, Rose followed his gaze to see an Ood. The Doctor looked back at Rose. "I need to speak with Zach." Rose nodded.  
"I'll be right behind you. I just need a minute." At his hesitate look she took his hand and squeezed it tenderly. "You're right you know, we'll be fine."

The Doctor slowly walked away and Rose leaned against the door, trying to calm herself and the growing buildup in her head. The Ood approached her, "The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God." Rose looked up at it sharply as her stomach lurched.  
"What?" The Ood blinked.  
"Apologies. I said, "I dinner is being served."

At his desk, Toby was leaned over his notes of the ancient text, examining everything carefully. He freezes as he hears his name, "Toby..." He begins to turn but is stopped by the voice, "Don't turn around." Toby breaths heavily and whispers,  
"Dan ... that's not Dan." He begins to turn again but,  
"Don't look at me"  
"Who are you?" Toby asks, nearly breathless.  
"I have so many names"  
"If-- if I could√" He begins to move as if to turn but the voice answers.  
"If you look at me, you will die"  
"But who are you"  
"I'm behind you, Toby. I'm right behind you." Toby jerks his head but does not turn around.  
"Don't look-- don't look at me." Toby trembles but the voice does not stop, "One look and you will die." There is a long pause, "I'm reaching out, Toby. I'm so close. Don't turn around. Oh, I can touch you..." 

Toby snaps, spinning around... and it stops as the voice vanishes leaving the empty room. Toby breathes a sigh of relief but continues to look around the room. The lights flicker out in the corridor and Toby suddenly pauses, looking down at his gloved hands as a numb feeling spread slowly through them. He turns them over, looking at them carefully before he puts down the broken pieces of the artifact he was studying and pulls the gloves off. With mild relief he notes that the backs of his hands are normal but then, he turns them around, looking at his palms - they are covered with the ancient symbols, as though it has been stained into his skin. He stands in shock, staring at them, gasping for breath. He picks up a mirror from his desk and looks at his face, now covered in the small symbols with red eyes gazing at himself. He looks at himself with horror, then throws the mirror back down onto the desk. His whole body arches as though he is in pain, and he falls to his knees. Then he falls forwards, unconscious, on the floor.

Rose sighed as she wandered the halls, not ready yet to face the crew and the Doctor. She could still he was scared and terrified, but not for himself, for her and she hated it. She hated everything hear, the smell of it, the fell of it and the way it set off the darker parts of herself. She had never felt so connected and yet divided from Bad Wolf, usually it just came forward when she needed it but this limbo, this halfway was scary. If she stopped long enough and closed her eyes, Rose knew that she could see it, see what the Bad Wolf really was, what it all meant but she couldn't. Not yet and she knew it, it wasn't time, it still scared her too much so she kept walking towards the control room. "Badewul." She froze. "Badewul"  
"Who's there?" Rose called back, not turning around.  
"Such a lovely new form Badewul." Rose shivered.  
"My name is Rose, you have me confused with someone else." She began to turn around.  
"Turn around and die, see me and you will perish." Rose halted her movements. "No it is you Badewul. I know your children put me hear." Rose frowned deeply,  
"What are you talking about." A laughter filled the hall,  
"And she doesn't know, how sad, how the mighty have fallen." Rose shivered as the presence moved closer. "Badewul, sister the time has come. I return." Rose gasped as she felt a wave of pain run through her and then finding some air in her lungs she screamed before collapsing.

The Doctor gently held Rose's hand as she eye lids fluttered open, he smiled in relief when she gave him a small but confused smile. "Did I faint?" He chuckled and nodded. Rose scowled.  
"Right tell anyone and you'll have to regenerate." The Doctor laughed,  
"How do you feel?" Rose frowned,  
"I don't remember what happened." The Doctor nodded.  
"I heard you scream, I shouldn't have left you alone." Rose gave him a small smile, "I wanted to be alone." She paused and was silent.  
"What is it"  
"It's all gone quiet in my head." Rose looked back at the Doctor. "Bad Wolf, it's all gone quiet." She sat up slowly, "That's really strange." The Doctor studied her face for a long moment and Rose looked at him, "Could you check?" The Doctor looked at her carefully,  
"I don't' think that is a good idea Rose." He didn't say anything more and she laid back.

They sat in silence for a long while until the Doctor said, "I'm sorry." Rose looked at him, "We can't drill down to the TARDIS, I talked to Zach, we can't reach it." Rose nodded slowly as she sat up again and took out her phone.  
"No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could... what would I tell her?" Rose asked shaking her head. "I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home." Rose gave him a small smile,  
"Everyone leaves home in the end"  
"Not to end up stuck here"  
"Yeah, but stuck with you - that's not so bad." Rose said slowly, the Doctor looked at her gently.  
"Yeah?" Rose nodded and with a smile replied sincerely,  
"Yes." The moment was broken by her phone ringing, surprised she opened it and held it to her ear.  
"He is awake."

Danny looked up from the controls and smirked as the Doctor and Rose entered Ood Habitation. "The mysterious couple. How are you, then? Settling in"  
"The Ood - how do they communicate? I mean, with each other." Below them, the Ood all sit perfectly still in the animal like holding pen. Danny shrugged at the Doctor's question,  
"Oh, just empaths. There's a low level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle"  
"This telepathic field - can it pick up messages?" The Doctor pressed.  
"Cause I was in the halls and an Ood said something... well odd." Danny grinned,

"Oh. An odd Ood"  
"And then I got something else on my er... communicator thing." She finished with a glance at the Doctor.

Danny nodded in thought. "Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing." At their looks he continued, "Look... if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill." The Doctor looked at the computer.  
"You monitor them from here?" He read the basic 5 reading. Danny nodded.  
"Yeah. But like I said, it's low level telepathy. They only register Basic 5." The Doctor blinked as the level began to rise,  
"It's not Basic 5 anymore...10, 15, 20." He looks at Danny, "They've gone up to Basic 30"  
"They can't!" Danny yelled, Rose gaped and yelled for the Doctor as the Ood all turned to look at them.  
"What does Basic 30 mean?" Rose asked Danny quietly.

Danny looked at the Ood in shock, "Well, it means that they're shouting - screaming inside their heads." The Doctor nodded and pulled Rose away from the railing towards him.  
"Or something's shouting at them.." Turning the computer Danny began working frantically,  
"But... where's it coming from? What is it saying? I mean- "he looked over at Rose, "What did it say to you"  
" Something about the beast in the pit and a war against God." Danny looked alarmed,  
"What about your communicator? What did that say"  
"He is awake." Then as one the Ood spoke,  
"And you will worship him"  
"What the hell?" Danny yelled moving behind the Doctor as he stepped forward to the rails.  
"He is awake"  
"And you will worship him"  
"Worship who? Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

Scooti ran to the door and screamed, "Open Door 40! Open Door 40!" Outside Toby held up his hand as the window cracks grew. Inside Scotti screamed against the door and pounded but a moment later the window exploded outwards and she was sucked outside.

Jefferson looked at the assembled crowd, Rose knelt next to Toby who had been the last to escape into the safe zone during the hull breach. "We've lost sections 11 to 13. Everyone all right?" Zach asked over the communications. Jefferson replied,  
"We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report." He paused at the sound of the static.  
"Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report." Zach's voice breaks in,  
"She's all right." Jefferson and Ida breath a sigh of relief,  
"I picked up her bio chip, she's in Habitation 3. Better go and check if she's not responding, she might be unconscious." Zach said calmly as he looked up at his hologram.

Jefferson nodded and sighed, "Habitation 3... come on, I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on." He leaves and is followed by everyone but Toby, Rose and the Doctor. The Doctor kneels down next to the shaken Toby, "What happened?" Toby shakes his head very flustered and answers rapidly.  
"I don't-- I dunno, I-- I was working and then I can't remember. All-- all that noise, the room was falling apart, there was no air"  
"Come on." Rose said pulling you up, "Sounds like Jefferson has the right idea."

Things were chaos in Habitation 3 as everyone rushed around liking for Scooti, "I've checked Habitation 4.." Ida told Jefferson, worry creeping into her voice. "There's no sign of her. The bio chip says she's in the area." The Doctor stepped in with Rose and Toby and blinked at the chaos.  
"Have you seen Scooti?" Jefferson asked Toby who shook his head,  
"No, no, no, I don't think so"  
"Scooti, please respond, if you can hear this please respo-- Habitation 6." Ida said into her communicator.  
"Nowhere here." Jefferson mutter before saying into his wrist device, "Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing"  
"It says Habitation 3." Zach answered.  
"Yeah, well that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here." The Doctor looked up and frowned.  
"I've found her." They all follow his gaze to see her body floating outside towards the black hole. "I'm sorry." The Doctor whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"Captain... report Officer Scootori Manista PKD... deceased. 43K2.1." Jefferson said to Zach.  
"She was twenty... twenty years old." Ida muttered, walking to the controls and closing the shutters.  
"For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father... and the temples of his Gods." Jefferson said softly as a harsh silence descended. Ida tilted her head,  
"It's stopped..." A dull crash was heard.  
"What was that? What was it?" Rose asked the Doctor.  
"The drill"  
"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero."

Rose slowly walked up to the Doctor who was adjusting the levels of his space suit, "Oxygen... nitro-balance... gravity. It's over a century since I last wore one of these"  
"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" Rose said trying to smile.  
"Your wish is my command." The Doctor said with a smile before putting on the helmet.  
"It's funny, 'cause people back home think that space travel's gonna be all whizzing about and teleports and anti-gravity... but it's not, is it?" She trails off for a moment, "It's tough." The Doctor looks at her carefully but then gives her his usual manic grin,  
"I'll see you later." Rose managed a weak laugh and smiled,  
"Not if I see you first." Then she placed a quick kiss on his helmet.

Danny and the security guard both turn to look at the Ood in surprise as they suddenly stand and turn to face them.

Rose and Zach grab the coms as the hologram shows that the Doctor and Ida have reached Point Zero. "Doctor? Doctor, are you all right"  
"Ida, report to me... Doctor?" Deep in the pit the Doctor and Ida step away from the capsule, "We're fine, we made it"  
"What's it like down there?" Rose asked a moment later.  
"It's hard to tell... some sort of... cave... cavern... it's massive." The Doctor said, looking around him.  
"Well, this should help. Gravity globe." She tosses some sort of white orb up into the air. It floods the entire cavern with light, revealing what is quite clearly ancient architecture. The cavern is enormous - there is a huge face etched into the rock. Ida turns slowly, taking it all in.  
"That's... that's... my God, that's beautiful"  
"Rose... you can tell Toby... we've found his civilization..." Rose laughed and looked over at the trembling Toby,  
"Oi, Toby - sounds like you've got plenty of work." Toby just wrung his hands and muttered,  
"Good. Good."

"Sir." Danny's voice caught Zach's attention, "There's something happening with the Ood"  
"What are they doing?" Danny looks at the Ood nervously.  
"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't"  
"Danny, you're a big boy. I think you can take being stared at"  
"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at Basic 100! I've checked - there isn't any fault. It's definitely 100"  
"But that's impossible"  
"What's Basic 100 mean?" Rose asked Jefferson.  
"They should be dead." Danny said almost panicking.  
"Basic 100's brain death." Zach frowned,  
"Keep a guard posted."

The Doctor and Ida approach an enormous circular trapdoor with engravings on it, the same ancient language. "We've found something. It looks like metal. Like some sort of seal." Ida held the torch to light the edges of it.  
"The edge is covered with those symbols"  
"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked.  
"That's what seals tend to do, seal something in until some idiot breaks it open." The Doctor muttered only to be ignored.  
"It's massive Captain thirty feet at least in diameter"  
"Any way of opening it"  
"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism." Ida answered.  
"I suppose that's the writing, that'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation"  
"Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?" Zach asked from the control room.

Rose looked over at Toby, "Toby, they need to know - that lettering, does it make any sort of sense"  
"I know what it says." Toby muttered quietly.  
"Then tell them"  
"When did you work that out?" Jefferson asked from next to Rose.  
"It doesn't matter, just tell them." Rose snapped back just before Toby stood to reveal the marks all over his body.  
"These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken." Jefferson moved around Rose to point his gun at Toby, "He is the heart that beats in the darkness, he is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise"  
"Officer, stand down. Stand down." Jefferson yelled. Down in the pit the Doctor paced nervously,  
"What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Rose? What's going on?"

Topside the Beast smirks at Jefferson and exhales the dark smoke the curls around him, his red eyes briefly look to Rose and glint evilly. The Ood jerk as the dark smoke surrounds them and pulls them under the Ood's control. Toby collapses to the deck, free of the symbols. They turn to look at Jefferson, Rose and Toby. "We are the Legion of the Beast."

"The Legion shall be many. And the Legion shall be few...He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan...Or Lucifer..." Danny rushes to the computer.  
"Captain, it's the Ood. They're out of control"  
"Or the Bringer of Despair... The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free."

The seal opens before Ida who yells for the Doctor, they stare down into it as pillars of smoke rise from it, "The Pit is open. And I am free."

Next Time: Satan Pit 


	10. Satan Pit

Across Time and Space by CharmingSlayer Chapter Ten: Satan Pit

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Okay now this chapter is going to be different from the original and now I have some questions for you my dearly beloved audience! The next episode is Smith, Jones and Tyler but what shall come of Martha? Shall she stay on as Jack Harkness returns in the book final In Her Hands? Let me know what you think of the new companion and cast your vote on if she will join the TARDIS crew! I will not write Martha/Doctor so don't even try it! Constant reviewers now get emails from me when I update so review!

It happened so quickly that even Rose, with all her experience in space travel and violence was stunned by it, Jefferson yelled the order and they opened fire on the Ood as Rose hid her eyes from the blasts. Then the base stilled and Rose rushed back to the monitor, grabbing the comm tightly in her hand. "Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor? Ida? Are you there?" The static that met her ears didn't distract Jefferson and the guard as Door 25 opened, they spun with their guns ready but held fire as Danny stumbled in. Danny didn't bother to caught his breath as he slammed the door shut and locked it,  
"It's me! But they're coming. It's the Ood. They've gone mad"  
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked, Danny looked at him terrified and his voice rising in pitch as he answered,  
"All of them! All fifty!" Jefferson stalked up to the door but Danny blocks his way.  
"Danny, out of the way." When Danny tightens himself against the door Jefferson pulls on his arm, dragging him from it. "But they're armed! They're da- It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."

Jefferson swings open the door, revealing the Ood all standing on the other side, holding thier interfacers in front of them. One of them immediately advances, putting the communication orb to the guard's forehead. She screams as bolts of electricity cover her skull and slumps to the floor, dead. Jefferson open fires desperately as the door is slammed shut. Panting Jefferson contacted the trapped Zach, talking in low voices until Rose heard Zach sigh, "Strategy Nine agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?" Rushing back to the comms, Rose scooped the fallen device from the floor.  
"I can't get any reply, just... nothing, I keep trying, but it's..." In her hand right then the communication device crackles and the Doctor's voice comes through.  
"Rose are you alright? What happened?!" Rose sighed in relief,  
"We're fine Doctor. What about you and Ida?"

"We're fine." The Doctor replied, looking over at Ida. "But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm." He looks over at the great hole, Ida is standing near it, looking between the Doctor and it.  
"How deep is it?" Zach asked from the control room.  
"Can't tell. It looks like it goes on forever." The Doctor answered with a nervous glance towards it. Rose shivered slightly and tightened her grasp on the comm,  
"That's what is said, ▒The pit is open.' That's what the voice said"  
"There's... nothing coming out?" Zach asked the Doctor nervously.  
"No, no. No sign of 'the Beast"  
"It said 'Satan'." Rose said softly, "Is there no such thing?" The Doctor pauses,  
"Rose calm down." He takes a moment, "It's fine, nothing is coming out."

Up in the command room, Zach sighed before picking up his comm, "Ida? I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately." "But... we've come all this way!" Ida protested weakly, looking at the Doctor.  
"Okay, that was an order. With-draw. With that thing open, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now"  
"But it's not much better up there with the Ood." Ida argued back into her communicator.  
"I'm initiating Strategy Nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar-" Ida quickly shut off her communicator earning a smirk from the Doctor.

"What do you think?" Ida asked after a moment, the Doctor shrugged in his suit.  
"I think he gave you an order." Ida nodded,  
"Yeah, but... what do you think?" The Doctor didn't answer but walked to the edge of the pit and looked down at the dark expanse.  
"I travel the universe trying to see everything, experience it all and help where I can..." He trailed off just looking into the pit but then looked over at Ida and chuckled, "That instinct of you humans to jump into the unknown." He took a deep breath, "Maybe it's counting on that, maybe it still needs us to do something for it to be truly free so for once in my life... Officer Scott... I'm going to say..." The Doctor stepped back from the pit, "Retreat." He let out a deep sigh and shook his head, "Now I know I'm getting old." Tapping his communicator, he reopened the channel to the surface, "Rose, we're coming back."

Rose smiled, "Best news I've heard all day!" Behind her she hears Jefferson release the safety catch on his gun. "What are you doing." Jefferson drops his gun towards Toby, looking at him carefully.  
"He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." Toby's eyes widen as he tightens against the rails. Rose moves next to Toby,  
"Are you gonna start shooting your own people, now? Is that what you're gonna do? Is it"  
"If necessary." Jefferson replied looking up at the angry Rose.  
"Well then, you'll have to shoot me 'if necessary', so what's it gonna be?" As Jefferson pauses, Rose kneels down next to Toby, gesturing to his face. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." After a moment Jefferson lowers his gun and looks at Toby harshly,  
"Any sign of trouble... I'll shoot him." Rose nods to Jefferson before looking to Toby.

"Are you alright?" Trembling still, Toby looks at her, terror still in his eyes.  
"Yeah... I... dunno." He weakly shakes his head.  
"Can you remember anything?" Rose pressed gently.  
"Just... it was so angry. It was... fury and rage... death"  
"It was him. It was the devil."

At the surface in the exploration deck, Jefferson, Danny and Rose are waiting by the monitor for the Doctor and Ida to return contact. "Okay, we're in. Bring us up." Ida voice said over the speaker. Jefferson nodded and flipped a few switches.  
"Ascension in three... two... one." The mechanism fails as the lights all go out. Not only on the exploration deck, but in the capsule and the control room. All occupants look at their screens to see the Ood but it is voice of the Beast,  
"This is the Darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light clinging to your feeble Suns which die in the-" Zach grabbed his comm,  
"That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them"  
"Only the Darkness remains." Zach leaned back and spoke,  
"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctury Base Six representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself."

"You know my name"  
"What do you want?" Zach asked after a long moment of silence.  
"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave"  
"Stop it." Rose hissed, "Stop it now." There was a dark chuckling.  
"This is my domain now Badewul, you have no power here just another mortal suffocating in the dark." Rose began to shake, "I will repay you for what you did-" He was cut off by the Doctor still in the capsule with Ida,  
"Which Beast are you? The universe is full of them, there's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archivits... Pordonity, Christianity... Pash-Pash, New Judaism... Sanclar... Church of the Tin Vagabond - which devil are you?" Ida looked up at the Doctor fearfully.  
"All of them"  
"So you're the truth behind the myth"  
"This one knows me - as I know him. The killer of his own kind." The Doctor did not respond to this,  
"How did you end up on this rock"  
"The disciples of the Light, the disciples of Badewul rose up against me. And chained me in the pit for all eternity." Rose and the Doctor both hid their reactions to this.

"When was this?" The Doctor asked.  
"Before time." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.  
"What does that mean"  
"Before time"  
"What do you mean by that"  
"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created. In the time when I and the others like me ruled the void between this and all other universes"  
"That's impossible. No life could have existed back then. You couldn't have existed"  
"Is that your religion"  
"It's a belief."

"You know nothing. All of you. So small." Zach shivered in the control room, "The captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin." The voice paused, "Badewul who remembers nothing of who she was and doomed herself to this." The footage of the Ood suddenly cuts and is replaced with a roaring horned beast, which causes everyone but the Doctor to gasp and stumble backwards. Everyone begins talking at once frantically.  
"What the hell was that?" Danny shouted,  
"I had that thing inside my head." Toby muttered. Rose shuddered and stumbled back as she felt the Bad Wolf or Badewul or whoever it was trying to push through. Leaning against the wall she sighed and tried to relax, for once she's let the other being take over. Toby looked up at her as the Doctor began speaking to them, then suddenly the cable snapped bringing Rose back to reality and Bad Wolf fled.

The Doctor looked over at Ida after tearing his eyes off the wreaked capsule. "How much air have we got?" Ida dusted herself off as she answered him,  
"Sixty minutes." Then she looked down at her wrist device, "Fifty-five."

Rose, Jefferson and Danny peer down the lift shaft behind the safety rail, "We've got to bring them back up." Rose muttered but Jefferson shook his head.  
"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." A loud crash on the door made them all jump. Jefferson spoke into his wrist device.  
"Captain? Situation report"  
"It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in." Zach replied with a sigh.  
"Yeah, it's the same on Door 25"  
"How long's it gonna take"  
"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes." He flinched as there was another bang. "... eight"  
"I've got a security frame, it might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you." Zach added.  
"Right. So we need to stop them - or get out - or both." Rose said firmly.  
"I'll take both, yeah? But how?" Danny asked, frustration in his voice.  
"You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off? Cos he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this. Come on! For a start, we need some lights. There's gotta be some sort of power somewhere."

Zach chuckled bitterly, "There's nothing I can do. Some captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons"  
"That's what the Doctor meant; press the right buttons." Rose replied firmly.  
"They've gutted the generators!" Zach paused, realization dawning on his face, "but the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that... Mr Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety"  
"Opening bypass conduits, sir." Jefferson replied as he hit the buttons.  
"Channeling rocket feed. In 3... 2... 1... power." The lights flicker on, Rose laughs and claps her hands. Danny grins,  
"Let there be light!" Turning back to Jefferson Rose asked,  
"What about that Strategy Nine thing"  
"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent"  
"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mr Jefferson, you start working on that." Rose turns and approaches Toby. "Toby, what about you?"

"I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything"  
"No, you're the archeologist. What do you know about the pit"  
"Well, n-n-nothing. We can't even translate the language"  
"Right." Rose begins to turn away but stops when Toby says,  
"H-hold on. Maybe"  
"What is it"  
"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters made more sense." Rose nodded slowly,  
"Well... get to work. Anything you can translate, just... anything." Nodding Rose walked over to Danny. "As for you, Danny-boy - you're in charge of the Ood - any way of stopping them?" "Well... I don't know." She pulls him over to the computer,  
"Then find out. The sooner we get control of the base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift."

Down in the pit, Ida pulled on the edges of the cable, pulling some lose, "We've got all this cable - we might as well use it. The drum's disconnected - we could adapt it. Feed it through"  
"And then what"  
"Abseil. Into the pit." When the Doctor raised an eyebrow at this Ida sighed, "We're running out of air with no way back. It's the only thing we can do. Even if it's the last thing we ever achieve"  
"I'll get back. Rose is up there." Ida looked at him for a moment then seeing he was serious nodded,  
"Well, maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the pit"  
"Well... it's half of a good plan"  
"What's the other half"  
"I go down, not you."

At the computer Jefferson spoke to Zach rapidly as he hit button, "Open junctions five... six... seven... reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go." Danny turns to Rose,  
"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board"  
"Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either. Or a Tescos." Rose rolled her eyes at Danny, Danny nodded and looked at the screen as it read off affirmative. After a brief moment of disbelief, he beams,  
"Oh my God. It says yes! I can do it! Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare... it can disrupt the telepathy! Brainstorm"  
"What happens to the Ood"  
"It'll tank them, spark out"  
"There we are, then! Do it!" Danny's face falls at Rose's words.  
"No, but... I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."

Looking over at the door as another loud bang is heard by Toby, Jefferson, Danny and herself, Rose nods and states, "That's what we'll do, then." Rushing over to Jefferson she looked at his machine. "Mr Jefferson, sir! Any way out"  
"Just about... there's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here"  
"Ventilation shafts." Rose grinned, Jefferson smirked,  
"Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact - at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms"  
"But - I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create an atmosphere... if I control it manually... I can follow you through the network." Zach filled in from the control room.  
"Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us. By hand"  
"You wanted me pressing buttons." Zach reminded her. Rose smirked and nodded,  
"Yeah - I asked for it - okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation, work out a route."

The Doctor and Ida are securing the cable so they can abseil down the pit in near silence. "That should hold it. How's it going?" Ida asked suddenly, breaking the silence. From the edge of the pit the Doctor replies.  
"Fine Ida, that fantastic." He sighed and shook his head before glancing at Ida. "Here we go." With that he fell back into the pit, letting the slack cable catch him as Ida hits the button to stop it from further unraveling.  
"Are you alright Doctor"  
"Fine Ida. The wall of the pit... seems to be the same as the cavern, just..." The Doctor shines his torch downwards "not much of it. There's a crust about twenty feet down and then... nothing. Just the pit." After a moment he added. "Lower me down"  
"Well, here we go, then." Ida muttered, hitting the button to release the cable, slowly lowering the Doctor into the pit.

"Danny!" Rose yelled to the dark haired man, still at the computer even as the Ood pounded on the door.  
"Hold on! Just conforming"  
"Dan, you gotta go now!" There was another loud crash as Jefferson tensed and yelled, "Come on!" The computer beeped to Danny's joy as he pulled a small orange chip from it.  
"Yeah! Put that in the monitor... and it's a bad time to be an Ood!" Danny and Toby dove into the trapdoor, Rose glanced up at Jefferson who nodded.

Rose moved for the trap door but froze as she hit what felt to be a wall. Jefferson looked at her in shock but Rose gave him a sad smile as she tried to move again but failed, "Guess it doesn't want me going with you. First the Doctor and now me, but remember to stick together and use your heads." She looked over at the door as there was another loud crash before looking back at Jefferson. "Go on!" He hesitated but Rose shook her head at him, "Go on and if you hurry we all might live through this. Toby and Danny need your help now." Jefferson nodded slowly but after glancing at the door he pulled out his handgun and handed it to Rose. Giving her a small nod he jumped down the trap door. Rose looked at the gun and then at the door as it fell open. The Ood marched forward but then stopped only a few feet away, understanding Rose nodded and put the gun down. "So the Beast wants to talk to her huh." They did not respond but simply stared at her with their glowing eyes. "Hope this works." Closing her eyes she took a breath and let go as Bad Wolf pushed forward to take control.

She slowly lifted her gold eyes to the Ood and raised her chin, "You're as much a coward as ever. Still hiding in your shadows and minions. Playing with minds without ever actually coming forward." There was a another chuckle from the Ood,  
"So you have the strength to come forward but that is all you can do, over these years I have poured myself into every part of this rock, it is part of me and so long as you touch it you have no power. You cannot stop me, you cannot save these weak little life forms and you cannot save this universe from me a second time." Badewul tossed her hair out of her eyes and shrugged, resting her hands on her hips.  
"Wasn't it underestimating me that got you into this in the first place." She didn't react to the chuckle that echoed in the room.  
"Sister you are still a fool." Badewul did not say anything but nearly stared at the Ood, seeing another in their place.  
"Perhaps but I have cherished my time in this universe brother what ever the form I took brother, can you say the same"  
"We are this universe, we were here before it began we are the supreme." Badewul chuckled this time and shook her head.  
"You can't get free." "You have been gone too long sister and you cannot stay for long." Badewul shivered at the words but stumbled back, realizing that he was right, on this planet, in his domain she was too weak. She couldn't protect the universe, she couldn't protect the Doctor and she couldn't even protect herself. Glaring at the Ood she hissed,  
"My Doctor will figure it out, if I cannot stop you he will."

Rose exhaled and jumped back with a start as she say the Ood in front of her. Grabbing the gun, she lifted it in front of her. "Why don't I remember?!" Rose demanded of the Beast, "I always remember!" "Not in my domain child, here you are separate and weak." Then the Ood began to move forward but then as Rose raised the gun to shot, they all fell forward. For a long moment Rose didn't move and then gasped,  
"Brilliant Danny!" She clapped her hands and exhaled a breath of relief. "Good timing too."

A few moments later Jefferson, Danny and Toby came rushing into the room, all three sighed in relief seeing that Rose was okay. Rose grinned and hugged Danny, "You have great timing Danny." Then Zach ran into the room,  
"Everyone alright?" Jefferson nodded to the captain.  
"Yes sir, close call in the tunnels"  
"What happened?" Rose asked.  
"The Ood tried to attack us in the tunnels but we made it." Rose nodded.  
"Now for the Doctor and Ida."

Ida flinched at the dull sound of the cable reaching it's end, she looked over to confirm it. "That's it. That's all we've got." The Doctor much deeper in the pit looks to his wrist device, attempting to receive a reading. "You getting any sort of readout"  
"Nothing." The Doctor answers before leaning back in thought. "No way to tell anything from here." He glances down at the darkness below.  
"I'm bringing you up." Ida begins to pull him up but the Doctor hits a button on his harness. "What're you doing?!" The Doctor shook his head.  
"You bring me back, then we're just gonna sit there and run out of air. I've gotta go down"  
"But you can't. Doctor, you can't"  
"Call it an act of faith." He releases on of the hooks of his harness. "But... I don't want to die on my own." Ida said softly, the Doctor nodded inside his helmet.  
"I know." He released another hook slowly. "I didn't ask - have you got any sort of faith, or...?" Ida slips down to sit at the edge of the pit.  
"Not really. I was brought up Neo Classic, congregational... because of my mum, she was.." Ida pauses, a sad look on her face, "my old mum. But no, I never believed"  
"Neo Classic - have they got a devil"  
"No, not as such. Just um... the things that men do"  
"What about you?" The Doctor pauses at her question, considering it for a long moment.  
"I believe I haven't seen everything." He stopped, "I know that in the last three years with Rose what I've always believed has changed but that's why we live isn't it." He smiled sadly. "To try and figure it all out, figure out the why and how. Figure out what we want from life and try to get it." Ida nodded slowly. "Thank you Ida."

Suddenly Ida stood from her makeshift seat at the edge of the pit, "Don't go"  
"If they get back in touch... if you talk to Rose... just tell her..." He pauses, "Tell her I..." He stops again and chuckles darkly. "I'm about to fall into pit, probably never to see her again and I still can't say it." Ida is silent with him for a moment but then asks,  
"Shall I tell her you love her?" The Doctor shakes his head, despite that she can't see him.  
"No Ida, not like that." He sighs, "Just tell her she was fantastic." He releases the final hook and falls into the nothingness below. Ida lets out a breath and then jumps as Rose's voice comes over the comm.  
"Doctor? Are you there? Doctor, Ida? Can you hear me"  
"He's gone." Ida replied after a long moment. Rose blinked, sure she heard wrong.  
"What do you mean, 'he's gone"  
"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is - miles and miles and miles"  
"But... what do you mean 'he fell'?" Rose's voice broke near the end of the question, Ida sighed tearing up a bit herself.  
"I couldn't stop him. He said your name..."

Slowly Zach reached over and tugged the comm from Rose's hand as she stared straight ahead into space. "I'm sorry." Zach says to her softly before speaking to Ida, "Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable, no back- up... you're ten miles down..." He took a breath, "We can't get there." Ida slowly looks around the massive cavern before speaking,  
"You should see this place, Zach." She sits down slowly at the edge of the pit, "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things... and here I am." Zach nods,  
"We've got to abandon the base. I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again." Ida bits her lip,  
"But we'll never find out what it was"  
"Maybe that's for the best"  
"Yeah." Ida agrees softly. After a pause Zach begins to speak,  
"Officer Scott-" Ida cuts him off.  
"It's all right. Just go. Good luck"  
"Thank you"  
Zach replaces the comm gently and collects himself before looking to Danny and Jefferson. "Danny - Toby - close down the feed links. Jefferson get the tracking online. Then get to the rocket - strap yourselves in. We're leaving." He walks away as Rose turns towards him,  
"I'm not going." Zach turns back to her and reassuringly says,  
"Rose, there's space for you"  
"No, I'm gonna wait for the Doctor. Just like he waited for me"  
"I'm sorry, but... he's dead." Zach tells her gently as the others look on.  
"You don't know him. 'Cause he's not..." Her voice breaks as she swallows her tears, "I'm telling you, he's-- he's not... and even if he was, how could I leave him? All on his own, all the way down there? No. I'm gonna stay." Zach nods slowly,  
"Then I apologize for this. Danny - Jefferson - make her secure."

The two men grab Rose from both sides, pining her arms as Toby finishes shutting down the machines and Zach pulls out a sedative. Rose screams and struggles but falls against Jefferson's shoulder as Zach injects her. Pulling her into his arms Zach hissed with determination, "I have lost too many people. I am not leaving you behind." Hoisting Rose over his shoulder he looked at the others. "Let's get her on board."

The broken shards of his helmet's shield lay under his face but the Doctor barely realized this as he slowly awoke, then seeing the damage he sat up gasping. Taking a breath he paused, exhaling and inhaling again before pulling off the helmet. Turning on the comm he tried to reach Ida, "Ida there's an air cushion to support the fall... You can breath down here, Ida." He pauses hearing hte comm static. "Can you hear me, Ida?"

The seating area of the rocket was small, Zach and Jefferson sat in the front at the piloting station with Danny, Toby and the unconscious filling the back row. "Dislocating B-Clamp - C-Clamp - raising blue nitrates to maximum-" Zach read off. "Toby, how's the negapact feed line?" "Clear! Ready to go, sir. For God's sakes, get us out of here!" Toby yelled forward as Rose began to stir, Danny noticed.  
"Captain... I think we're gonna have a problem passenger"  
"Keep an eye on her." Zach barked back as Jefferson looked back at the girl. "Wait... I'm not.." Rose muttered as she looked around.  
"It's all right, Rose - you're safe." Danny said trying to calm her.  
"I'm not going anywhere! Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" Rose yelled struggling against the seat belt. Jefferson hit a few buttons.  
"Liftoff Captain." The four men whoop and cheer as the rocket lifts off shaking but strongly flying away from the surface. Ida looks up at the sound, as does the Doctor at the bottom of the pit. The Doctor strains to listen as the noise fades away, "A rocket." He closed his eyes, "Rose please be on it."

Rose's eyes land on the bolt gun, lunging forward she grabs it and points it straight at Zach, "Take me back to the planet." When he doesn't reply she screams, "Take me back." Without turning around Zach calmly asks,  
"Or what"  
"Or I'll shoot." At this Zach motioned to Jefferson to keep on the controls as he turned to look at Rose,  
"Would you, though? Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?" Holding his gaze for a moment Rose's hand shakes until she finally lowers the gun and slumps back in defeat. "Sorry, but it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted." Turning to the window, Rose looks back at the black hole and the tiny planet orbiting it. "Isn't that right?

The light of the torch revealed the ancient and crude drawing of a horned beast to the Doctor as he walked along the walls of the chamber. "I hope you're getting this Ida. The drawing record the history of some big battle. These disciples of Badewul against the Beast. I would have liked to ask Bad Wolf about that personally." The Doctor sighed, "The Beast was imprisoned here under the black hole." Spotting a picture of two vases, he turned to shine the torch on two pedestals, both holding a vase. Walking up to them, he brings the torch closer but pauses when he hears a low growl. Slowly he looks up and gapes for a brief moment as he sees a giant red horned beat chained to the far wall. Pulling against the chains, the Beast roars trying to reach him.

Up in the rocket Rose sighs and adjusts her seatbelt. Her attention is drawn to Toby as he starts to chuckle, Danny also notices. "What's the joke"  
"Just... we made it. We escaped. We actually did it." No one else reacts, and not with his mirth. After a brief pause Rose mutters,  
"Not all of us"  
"We're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole" Zach reminded him firmly. "Mr. Jefferson, read me the stats." "Gravity funnel holding, sir." Jefferson replied as Toby smirked.

The Doctor took a step closer to the Beast, "I'll accept your physical existence. Beyond that I'm not convinced." He stepped closer as the Beast growled. "I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing, and air. What is it you need me for?" The Doctor frowned as the Beast just growled and roared, fighting against the chains to reach him. "Speak to me! You spoke before why won't you speak now?" He looked closer, "I see a body, just a body but the intelligence that I spoke with earlier... where is it?" The Doctor stops, realization in his eyes. "No, oh no"  
"Stats. at 53, funnel status at 66.5. Hull pressure constant." Jefferson informed Zach seriously.  
"To planet Earth." Toby sighed, his grin still intact, beside him Rose gazed out the window sadly.

The Doctor moved the torch over the walls, "They imprison you under a black hole, a perfect prison." He looked up at the Beast. "You escape and the gravity field collapses and you die as the planet falls into the black hole. You escape and you die." He steps forward, crossing his arms. "The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is just an idea but an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind can still escape." He pauses and grins, "Fantastic! You didn't give me air - your jailers did! They set this up! They need me alive. Because if you're escaping, then I've gotta stop you." The Beast roars in fury, straining against the chains. The Doctor picks up a rock and moves towards the vases. He raises it over his head, " If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed. Your mind with it." Then he froze and let the rock fall from his hands. "But then you use this against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field." He leans against the pedestal, "I destroy the rocket and Rose." Above him the Beast began to laugh.

Rose was leaning forward, resting her chin on her fist as she played with her long hair in her nervousness. "It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've... ripped out the air or... I dunno, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why? Unless it wanted us to escape..." Rose sat up slightly as Toby hissed,  
"Hey, Rose, do us a favour - shut up." Rose blinked at him in surprise as he looked at Jefferson who had begun counting down.  
"Almost out Captain, We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in 40... 39..."

The Doctor shook his head and looked at the rock in his hand, "So that's it: the final judgement, final test." He shook his head, "I don't know anymore. I kill you I kill her." The Beast chuckled again and roared, the Doctor glared at him before straightening up. "I'm almost one thousand years old, my people have never had a religion. They always thought themselves above it." The Doctor looked up at the Beast, "I don't know, maybe they were stupid and arrogant, maybe there is something more but I don't believe in it." He stepped towards the Beast, anger now showing on his feature. "I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi gods out of all that - out of that whole pantheon - if I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her." The Doctor spun and smashed the vase.

Rose bit her lip to hide her yelp as the rocket gave a violent shake, " What happened? What was that?!" Danny yelled. Next to him Toby was frantic,  
"What's it doing? What is it doing"  
"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!" Jefferson yelled back to them.  
"What does that mean?" Rose demanded. Zach shook his head.  
"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" Rose turned to look out the window,  
"It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling." 

She sat back but jumped as she looked over at Toby. His face was covered in the ancient writings and his eyes glowing red. "I am the rage!" Rose's eyes widened,  
"It's Toby, Zach, do something!" Toby shook violently, clearly afraid.  
"And the bile and the ferocity. I am the Prince and the fall and the darkness!" Rose could hear Danny and Jefferson yelling but she herself began to shake as the Beast turned his eyes to her. "Badewul!" He hissed and Rose smirked as the Bad Wolf emerged.

The Beast shank back as her eyes glowed and a smirk appeared on her lips, Danny screamed next to them as the Beast breathed fire at her to no affect. "We're not on the planet anymore." Rose touched Toby's head forcing him back into the chair. She began to speak in low words, alternating between the ancient writings and English. "These are the words of the First and the Loved. These are the words of the Loved One, the Keeper and Protector. These are the words of the one who stayed behind." Looking directly into the Beast's red eyes she ordered, "By all that I am, I cast you back into the prison I made before the dawn." The Beast yelled as the writings vanished from Toby in a glow of red light. Tody fell back against Danny who screamed, Jefferson went for his gun and turned to fire a shot at Toby. Rose raised her hand, the bolt vanished in golden light and she turned to look at Jefferson and then she looked at Danny. "This one is free and the Beast is dead." Before their eyes she vanished in a golden cloud.

The Doctor gasped as the Beast screamed in the humanoid voice, "NO! No I cannot die! The thought of me is forever! In the bleeding hearts of men - in their vanity and obsession and lust. Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" The Doctor backed away from the Beast as it began to explode in fire, he grinned his manic smile.  
"Fantastic!" Then he froze as an odd whirling and wheezing filled the cavern. Turning he gasped in awe as the TARDIS materialized right behind him, rushing towards it he pulled the door open and ran inside. Rose looked up at him and he nodded in understanding as his blue eyes met gold ones. She back fell into the captains chair and then Rose looked up at him, her brown eyes happy but tired.  
"Your turn."

"Accelerate. I did my best. But hey - first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History." Jefferson looked over at Zach as the rocket fell backwards towards the black hole, "You did all you could, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances." Zach looked over at him gratefully and braced himself. Suddenly the rocket stopped and they all were silent as the power returned to normal. Then the ship slowly began to turn, "We're... turning." Zach sputtered in disbelief as he looked at the screen, "We're turning around. We're turning away"  
"Sorry about the hijack, captain." Zach, Danny, Toby and Jefferson froze at the sound of the Doctor's voice over the comms, "Just giving you a lift to safety, you'll be in safe space in just a few minutes." The Doctor inside the TARDIS grinned over at Rose and then looked over at the unconscious Ida, "Oh and Rose and I have a parting gift for you: Ida Scott."

Zach and Jefferson looked at each other as Toby and Danny rejoiced in back, "She's alive"  
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right." The Doctor paused, "I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." He was silent and glanced up at Rose who just grinned, "Oh and Toby," Toby sat up a little straighter, "The Beast is dead, you'll be fine now it can't take over you again." Toby sighed in relief, falling forward to put his face in his hand, crying softly. The Doctor looked down at the screen as it beeped. "Entering clear space, where you get off, mission closed."

Ida sighed, leaning back in her seat in the back of the rocket, looking forward at Jefferson and Zach. "I don't know. I can't remember." Danny shook his head in confusion,  
"Well, it looked like a box"  
"What do you mean 'a box'?" Zach asked.  
"Spaceships don't look like boxes." Jefferson added with a chuckle, Danny shrugged.  
"Well, down in the hull. A big blue box. It just appeared! I don't know!" They stopped talking as the Doctor's voice came over the comm,  
"Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home." The Doctor takes Rose's hand firmly and looks like he's about to say something but stops shaking his head. "Stupid apes." Ida's voice catches his attention,  
"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature - what was it?" He paused,  
"I'm not sure. I don't know what it was but it could die and it was terrified of it." Rose grabbed his hand tightly. Ida's voice comes back over,  
"Doctor the others say that- that Rose left the rocket in a cloud of gold light." Rose giggled and Ida paused, "Is she with you?" Rose grinned and leaned to speak into the comm.  
"Hi Ida, hi boys." Ida looked over at Toby who leaned forward.  
"Rose..." He stopped trailing off and shook his head, "Are you an angel?" The Doctor snorted, earning him an elbow from Rose. Rose smiled and touched the comm,  
"No Toby." Ida shook her head and asked,  
"Then the two of you... who are you?" Rose looked up at the Doctor who just grinned.  
"Oh..." He paused and laughed, "The stuff of legends."

Next Time on Doctor Who: Smith, Jones and Tyler 


	11. Smith, Jones and Tyler

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Eleven: Smith, Jones and Tyler

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: I'm sorry I keep replacing this chapter but the spacing is all wonky and driving me completely insane. Anyway I'm working on the first part of the finale which will be up soon.

The Powell Estates were calm as the late morning settled in and the residents went about their business. Jackie Tyler sighed and sipped from her cup, sitting down in front of the telly in her large pink chair. She paused suddenly and grabbing the remote switched off the sound as she listened and set down her cup. Leaping up she rushed out her front door, only just remembering to shut it as the now familiar whirling noise echoed through the estate. Running down the stairs, Jackie wrung her hands nervously as the TARDIS slowly materialized in front of her.

Rose Tyler looked up at the Doctor as he announced, "Powell Estates March 31, 2007." The Doctor looked over at her to see her smiling and gave a shudder, "As requested a visit to Jackie Tyler." Rose laughed,  
"Now say it with a straight face." The Doctor gave her a mock glare and grimaced as he heard pounding on the door.  
"Rose?! Rose!?" The Doctor sighed as he heard Jackie outside, "Doctor I swear if anything has happened to her you're going to wish you had never been born." The Doctor shrugged as Rose opened the door and let Jackie rush inside, she pulled her daughter in a hug. "Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone! You never use it!" Rose laughed happily as she held her mum tightly and the Doctor leaned against the console, Jackie gave him a glance before pulling Rose out the door. Rose grabbed her jean jacket from the railing, tossing it on.  
"Oh and I was loomed Jackie." Jackie looked back over her shoulder at him, "I was loomed, not born." Rose gave him a questioning look but the Doctor just shrugged at her. Jackie pulled on Rose's hand, chattering excitedly, "Go on and have fun with your mum." Rose nodded and smiled,  
"See you tomorrow then Doctor." She began to leave the TARDIS but stopped and grinned, "Oi, don't have too much fun without me." The Doctor laughed as Jackie pulled Rose from the TARDIS before turning back to the screen as a beeping caught his attention. Leaning over he examined the screen carefully before a manic grin spread over his face.  
"Fantastic"

Martha Jones shook her head as she flipped her phone shut, having just ended a very interesting series of conversations with various family and not so family members. She blinked as a man in a leather jacket carrying a woman's jean jacket stepped out in front of her, blocking her path. Confidently he handed the coat to her. "Like so." Then he stalked off, leaving Martha Jones standing in confusion. Shaking her head she tossed the coat over a post box and put it out of her mind. Walking through the doors of Royal Hope Hospital she was lost in thought until she was bumped into,  
"Oi!" Martha yelled at the man in all black leather, "Watch it mate." He turned to look at her, his helmet hiding all his features. Then the figure turned and walked into the hospital, Martha gave a small shrug before entering the hospital as well.

She opened her locker in the staff room and shrugged out of her jacket before pulling on a white medical coat. Straightening it for a moment she double checked her identification and a small notebook into her pocket. Martha jumped slightly as she moved to shut the door of her locker only to get a shock. Tapping the door again to no end she shook her head and shut the locker door.

"Honestly darling I don't understand it." Jackie muttered as she handed Rose her tea, "How are you ever going to settle down and have a good life with him around?" Rose looked into her tea,  
"Maybe what we think of as a good life is different mum." Rose shrugged, "I'm happy"  
"You've changed so much." Jackie said softly. Rose smiled,  
"For the better.  
"I s'pose." Jackie whispered softly, fluffing one of her pillows.  
"Mum, I used to work in a shop." Jackie straightened up defensively.  
"I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that"  
"No, I didn't mean that." Rose said with a sigh. Jackie nodded,  
"I know what you meant." Jackie sat down on the sofa and looked at Rose. "What happens when I'm gone?" Rose looked up at her mum in shock.  
"Don't talk like that!" Jackie looked at her daughter seriously.  
"No, but really. When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?" "I don't know"  
"Do you think you'll ever settle down?" Jackie asked softly, Rose stood from her chair, walking into the kitchen to rinse out her mug.  
"The Doctor never will, so I can't. I'll just keep on traveling." Jackie stood and joined her in the kitchen, taking her hand gently.  
"And you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman - this strange woman... walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. She's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human." Rose frowned and looked back at her cup.  
"I'm your daughter." She said finally turning to look at her mum, "And no matter what I'll always be your daughter"

The small old woman sat up in the hospital bed, looking up at Mr. Stoker with big wide eyes. "I was all right till this morning, and then, I don't know, I woke up and I felt all dizzy again. It was worse than when I came in." Mr. Stoker looked around at the medical students surrounding him.  
"Pulse is slightly thready. Well, let's see what Britain's finest might suggest. Any ideas, Moregenstern?" The young student nodded,  
"Dizziness can be a sign of early onset diabetes." The Doctor chuckled,  
"Hardly early onset, if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan. Any more ideas"  
"Um... Could recommend a CT scan." A student named Swales volunteered.  
"And spend all our money. Jones?" Martha nodded,  
"We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease.  
"Or we could simply ask the patient. What did you have for dinner last night"  
"I had salad." Florence answered.  
"And the night before"  
"Salad, again." The students looked at each other with mild embarrassment as Mr. Stoker looked over at them.  
"And salad every night for the past week, contrary to my instructions. Salt deficiency, that's what. Simple, honest salt." He turned and lead them out of the room and down a hallway. "Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. Recommended the inhalation of steam from sea water. Though no doubt if he'd been afflicted with my students, results might have been rather more colourful." As her fellow students chuckled Martha spotted the man in the helmet who had bumped into her stepping into the elevator with someone dressed just like him.

The Doctor looked up from the hospital bed as the group of students entered and noted that one of them seemed amused or maybe surprised to see him. "Now then, Mr Smith, a very good morning to you. How are you today?" Mr. Stoker asked him.  
"Not much better I'm afraid." The Doctor answered.  
"John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me." Martha moved to the side of the bed and pulled out her stethoscope.  
"That wasn't very clever, running around outside, was it"  
"Sorry?" The Doctor blinked and frowned in confusion.  
"On Chancery Street this morning. You came up to me and gave me a jean jacket"  
"Not me. I was here, in bed. Ask the nurses"  
"Well, that's weird, cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother"  
"No." The Doctor replied passively.  
"As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones." Mr. Stoker informed Martha, recapturing her attention. She nodded and returned to work.  
"Sorry. Right."

Martha gently set her stethoscope to the Doctor's chest, and paused as a puzzled look took over her face. She moves the stethoscope to the opposite side of his chest and her eyes widened as they looked at the Doctor's face. The Doctor smirked and winked at the girl. Behind her Mr. Stoker exclaimed, "I weep for further generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?" Martha stood up quickly and nervously replied.  
"Um. I don't know. Stomach cramps"  
"That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart." Mr. Stoker picked up the Doctor's chart only to drop it suddenly as he received an electric shock.  
"That happened to me this morning." Martha said. Beside her Morgenstern nodded,  
"I had the same thing on the door handle." Swales added,  
"And me, on the lift"  
"That's only to be expected. There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by - anyone?" Mr. Stoker asked.  
"Benjamin Franklin." The Doctor answered when none of the students did.  
"Correct!" Mr. Stoker replied giving the Doctor a nod before he lead the students on, only Martha glanced back at the Doctor.

Martha Jones looked at her fellow student Swales when the girl tapped her arm. Ignoring her sister Tish who was still on the line she asked, "What"  
"The rain." Swales muttered in shock.  
"It's only rain." Martha replied, putting her phone back to her ear.  
"Martha! Have you seen the rain?" Tish asked on the other end as she looked up at the hospital.  
"Why's everyone fussing about rain?" Martha asked.  
"It's going up." Swales gasped, staring out the window. Martha turned as her sister answered,  
"The rain is going up." Martha gaped at the view and suddenly the building began to shake. She and Swales grabbed onto anything they could find as the cabinets fell open and everything fell to the ground. A moment after the shaking stopped Martha pulled herself up. "What in hell was that"  
"Are you all right?" Swales asked her.  
"I think so, yeah. It felt like an earthquake, or "  
"Martha? It's night. It was lunchtime." Swaled interrupted looking out the window.  
"It's not night"  
"It's got to be. It's dark." Martha followed her gaze out the window.  
"We're on the moon"  
"We can't be"  
"We're on the moon. We're on the bloody moon." Martha gasped as she stared out the window.

In the hospital, people are running and screaming around Martha as she dazes into another room. Through the large wall window, she can see the earth slightly above the horizon. Leaving, she passes by Florence Finnegan. "Have you seen -" Martha continues to move down the hall but shouts back,  
"I'm sorry, I can't." She enters another room to see the patients out of bed. "All right, everyone back to bed, we've got an emergency but we'll sort it out." The Doctor looks at Martha before pulling the curtain around his bed shut. "It's real. It's really real." Martha gasps to Swales. "Hold on!" She reaches for the latch. Swales grabs her hand, sobbing.  
"Don't! We'll lose all the air"  
"But they're not exactly air tight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?" The Doctor, now dressed in his jean, jumper and black coat steps out next to them "Fantastic point." He looked down at Martha. "What was your name"  
"Martha"  
"And it was Jones, wasn't it?" Martha nodded and the Doctor nodded, folding his arms. "Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing"  
"We can't be!" Swales cried pressing herself against the wall.  
"Obviously we are so don't waste my time." The Doctor snapped, crossing his arms before looking back at Martha. "Martha, is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or"  
"By the patients' lounge, yeah"  
"Fancy a walk." Martha paused before smiling a tiny smile and answered.  
"Okay"  
"We might die"  
"We might not"  
"Good! C'mon then." He leads Martha out of the room as Swales slides down the wall sobbing.

The patients lounge was quiet as the Doctor and Martha stepped in. He lead her straight to the large glass doors and looked back her. She nodded and with a small smile he pushed open the doors and they stepped outside. "We've got air! How does that work?" Martha asked.  
"Just be glad it does"  
"I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really ... really.." Martha trailed off and the Doctor looked over at her.  
"You alright"  
"Yeah"  
"Want to go back in"  
"No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same - it's beautiful." The Doctor smiled at her attitude. "How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are!" She laughed but the Doctor didn't say anything, after a moment she looked up at him. "What do you think happened"  
"What do you think"  
"Extraterrestrial. It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded man, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben - Christmas!" She shook her head trailing off, "Has to be." Martha nodded and put on a brave face, "I promise you, Mr Smith, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way"  
"It's not Smith, that's not my real name"  
"Who are you, then"  
"I'm the Doctor"  
"Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it, then, Doctor Smith"  
"Just the Doctor"  
"How do you mean, just the Doctor"  
"Just ... the Doctor"  
"What, people call you 'the Doctor"  
"Yep"  
"Well, I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title." Martha remarked firmly.

"Well then I'd better get started. Let's have a look." He picked up a pebble lying on the ground and threw it out only to have it stopped by a field. "There must be some sort of force field keeping the air in"  
"If that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" The Doctor frowned and looked at her.  
"How many people in this hospital"  
"I don't know, a thousand"  
"One thousand people. Suffocating"  
"Why would anyone do that?" The Doctor looked out to see a ship descending.  
"Why don't you ask them Martha Jones"  
"Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens." The Doctor frowned deeply and added,  
"Judoon." 

Mr. Stoker was so busy looking out the window at the aliens he didn't hear Florence enter his office until she spoke, "Mr Stoker? I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to ask, but can you help me"  
"I think we've gone beyond aspirin, Miss... ah"  
"Finnegan"  
"What are names now when something unnameable is marching towards us across the moon? Two more years, I thought, two more years and then retire to Florida, but there is Florida, in the sky, I can see it. My daughter - she's still in university - I am never going to see her again"  
"But I need your help, Mr Stoker"  
"I can't do anything." He insisted trying to be calm. Florence gave him an ugly smile as the two slabs walked in and stood next to her.  
"Oh, I think you can"  
What do you two want? It's a bit too late to sign for anything.  
"These are my lovely boys. I prefer not to get my hands dirty"  
"I'm sorry"  
"You see, there are great tests to come, and terrible deeds, some of them my own. But if I am to survive this, I need you." Florence explained with a smile.  
"What are you talking about"  
"Blood. Specifically, yours." She snapped her fingers, signaling to the slabs who marched towards Mr. Stoker.  
"What are you doing?" Mr. Stoker yelled as he was grabbed by the arms. "What are you doing? Well, let go of me, what the hell, let go.""You see, I was only salt deficient because I am so very good at absorbing it. Now I need fire in my veins, and who better than a consultant, with blood full of salty fats and vintage wines and all those Michelin star sauces"  
"Who are you?" Mr. Stoker whimpered looking up at the approaching woman.  
"Oh, I'm a survivor, Mr Stoker. At any cost. Look! I've even brought a straw." The scream of Mr. Stoker was lost in the chaos of the hospital.

The lines of Judoon slid through the field force and marched for the hospital. Those in the lobby watched in awe and terror, some screaming, some running, some cowering and trying to hide. The chief Judoon removed his helmet to reveal a rhino like head and features. He speaks to his men and the assembled humans in the Judoon language. Morgenstern stepped forward bravely in front of the patients. "We are citizens of planet earth. We welcome you in peace." He holds back a scream as the chief Judoon pushes him against the wall and shines a blue light in his face. "Please don't hurt me, I was just trying to help, I'm sorry, don't hurt me, please don't hurt me. The Judoon plays his words back on his portable machine and then says,  
"Language assimilated. Designation Earth English. You will be catalogued." He then shines the blue light in Morgenstern's face and marks a cross on the back of his hand. "Category: human. Catalogue all suspects." The Judoon spread out and start shining the blue light on people, checking their species, then marking the right hand of each with a cross, saying "Human" as they do so. None of then see Martha and the Doctor watching from behind some plants.

"What are Judoon?" Martha whispered to the Doctor as he carefully watched the scene.  
"Interplanetary thugs or police for hire"  
"And they brought us to the moon"  
"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop"  
"What's that about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from? If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?" Martha hissed to him, glancing out at the lobby.  
"No, it's more simple. They're making a catalogue, it means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me"  
"Why?" The Doctor looks over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that." The Doctor moved away from the plant.  
"Come on, then."

The Chief Judoon looked around at his men and barked his orders. "Troop five, floor one. Troop six, floor two. Identify humans and find the transgressor. Find it. Prepare to be catalogued." Morgenstern stepped up behind him to address the patients.  
"Do what they say. All they want is to shine this light thing, it's all right, they don't mean to hurt us. Just listen to them."A man breaks a jug over the head of one of the Judoon. The chief Judoon turns to the man in question.  
"Witness the crime. Charge: physical assault. Plea: guilty. Sentence: execution." Pressing another button he shoots the man who screams for a long moment before dissolving away. Gasping out Morgenstern yelled,  
"You didn't have to do that." He flinched away when the Chief turns to him.  
"Justice is swift.  
Upstairs on the third floor, the Doctor sat down and began to search through the computer using the sonic screwdriver. Martha enters the room, carefully looking back into the hall. "They've reached third floor. What's that thing"  
"Sonic screwdriver"  
"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly"  
"I am." He glanced up at her.  
"What else have you got? A laser spanner"  
"Not for awhile." Grimacing he hits the computer. "The Judoon must have locked it down. I really wasn't looking for trouble, I noticed these coils so I jumped back a few days to check it out"  
"But what were they looking for"  
"Something that looks human, but isn't"  
"Like you. Apparently"  
"Like me. But not me"  
"Haven't they got a photo?" He shook his head.  
"Wouldn't work if it is shape-changer"  
"Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it"  
"If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution"  
"All of us"  
"Yes, unless I can find what I'm looking for"  
"What are we looking for"  
"Not sure. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up"  
"Just keep working. I'll go ask Mr Stoker, he might know."

Martha rushes down the hall to Mr. Stoker's office and steps inside only to freeze. She can see Stoker's feet twitching and after a moment Florence rises holding a bloody straw in her hand. Scrambling backwards Martha falls back into the hallway and starts to run. "Kill her!" Florence yelled to her slabsas Martha rushed down the hall and ran into the Doctor. He grabbed her arms to steady her,  
"I've restored the back-up"  
"I found her"  
"You what?" Hearing the slabs he looked past Martha to see them approaching. Pushing Martha ahead of him he yelled, "Run!" Martha's hand and they run down the stairs, followed by the Slabs. Then they meet the Judoon coming up, and dodge out a doorway on the fourth floor. They run down a few halls, then into the radiology room, where the Doctor closes and locks the door in the face of a Slab.) When I say 'now', press the button.  
"I don't know which one"  
"Find out!" He uses his sonic screwdriver on some of the machinery as Martha grabs the Operator's Manual. The Slab breaks down the door. "Now!" Martha claps her eyes shut and hits one of the buttons. He zaps the Slab with radiation, his skeleton visible for a long moment then the machine whines and shuts down. The Slab falls to the floor inert."What did you do"  
"Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. It's dead"  
"Isn't that likely to kill you"  
"Not me." He pauses, "It's safe for you to come out now." Moving into the room slowly, Martha switched her gaze from the Doctor to the Slab.  
"So what is that thing? And where's it from? The planet Zovirax"  
"It's just a Slab. They're called 'Slabs'. Basic slave drones, see? Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish"  
"It came with that woman, Mrs. Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant." The Doctor reaches over and takes what remains of his sonic screwdriver out of the x-ray machine.  
"My sonic screwdriver." He shakes his head, "Oh bullocks"  
"She was one of the patients. She had a straw like some kind of vampire." Seeing his focus elsewhere as he tossed the sonic screwdriver Martha yelled, "Doctor." He turned to her,  
"Sorry Martha." He paused and smirked, "You called me 'Doctor"  
"Anyway! Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood"  
"Odd time for it, you'd think she'd be hiding. Unless-" The Doctor trailed off, "That's not good. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it."

Florence Finnegan calmly moved into a corridor, wiping her lips delicately. She smirks slightly as she sees the approaching Judoon. "Prepare to be catalogued." The Judoon's move over the lines of humans scanning them. Human. They come to Florence Finnegan and shine the blue light on her. "If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!" The Doctor rushed out of the room leaving Martha to follow him. The Chief Judoon moves the light away from Miss Finnegan. "Human." He puts a cross on her hand and carries on, she looks at it with a smile.

Martha gasped when the Doctor pulled her down behind a water cooler. He motioned for silence just as a slab stepped out into the hallway. "That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs"  
"What about you"  
"What about me what?" The Doctor asked in confusion. "Haven't you got back-up? You must have a partner or something"  
"Uh. Humans. We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions"  
"I like that. "Humans." I'm still not convinced you're an alien." They step in front of a Judoon, who shines his blue light on the Doctor's face. "Non-human." "Oh my God, you really are!" Martha yells in shock.  
"Come on." The Doctor lead Martha to one of the lower levels. Martha sees Swales with oxygen tanks and stops by her. "How much oxygen is there"  
"Not enough for all these people. We're going to run out"  
"How are you feeling? Are you all right"  
"I'm running on adrenaline"  
"Welcome to my world." He looked around at the people in the hall, "Bollucks," He turned to Martha, "Have you got a cell phone on you." Martha nodded and pulled it out, handing it to him.  
"There's no signal." The Doctor nodded and pulled it apart and dug into his pockets for a small piece of computer. Martha watched in confusion, he chuckled,  
"Just a bit of jiggery pockery Martha Jones." "What are you trying to do?" The Doctor smiled as he punched in a number.  
"I'm calling my back up"

The sun was shining down on Jackie and Rose Tyler as they sat on a bench eating their chips, they were chatting about everything other than the Doctor so as to avoid a fight. Rose giggled as her mother excitedly relayed the gossip around London to her daughter. Suddenly Rose's phone began ringing, she flipped it open and frowned at the caller. "Mum do you know a Martha Jones?" Jackie shook her head and Rose took the call,  
"Hello I think you have the wrong number"  
"No Rose I don't." Rose straightened up hearing the Doctor's voice.  
"Doctor?" Jackie's gaze darkened next to her daughter, "What's wrong"  
"What makes you think something is wrong?" Martha smirked as the Doctor talked to this Rose.  
"You attract trouble and you've been alone all day." Rose replied with a smile. The Doctor laughed,  
"Fine Rose but listen Royal Hope Hospital has been moved to the moon by the Judoon who are looking for an alien criminal." Rose's eyes widened and she rushed over to the nearest electronics store. She gasped as the news flashed in front of her. "Rose"  
"I'm hear Doctor, what do you need me to do?" Martha saw a smile grace the Doctor's face, she could hear a bit of the conversation.  
"You're fantastic Rose-" He was cut off as Jackie Tyler ripped the phone from her daughter's hand,  
"Doctor!" He groaned, "You only bring Rose back a few times a year and even then you always drag her into trouble." Rose tried to fight the phone away from her mother.  
"Jackie put Rose back on"  
"I'm not finished Doctor every time you come around things go weird!" "Jackie I have a situation so a bit of hush would be real good right now"  
"I'm not finished!" Jackie snapped back.  
"Put Rose back on"  
"Mum that's enough. It's my choice to travel with him"  
"Some choice, all you chose is how you die with that man around. Sometimes not even that." Rose pulled the phone away.  
"What do you need Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and Martha lost track of things as he relayed his instructions. He hung up a moment later and handed the phone back to her. Martha grinned,  
"Let me guess: the wife and the mother-in-law." The Doctor looked at her in surprise, his eyes wide.  
"She's not my wife"  
"Girlfriend?" Martha asked,  
"No." He shook his head and Martha smirked,  
"Fine Doctor, whatever you say." At his glare she asked, "What about the Judoon"  
"They won't slow down, Rose is going to deal with the oxygen but you and I need to find that criminal. Where's Mr Stoker's office"  
"It's this way." Martha lead the Doctor down to another floor, keeping her eyes open for Slabs or Judoon. "They're gone! She was here." Martha told the Doctor as they entered the empty room. He nodded and knelt by the white body of Mr. Stoker.  
"Drained him dry. She's a plasmavore"  
"What was she doing on Earth"  
"Hiding. On the run, but even marked as a human she's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on."

"Wait a minute." Martha hissed, stopping the Doctor at the door. She gently closed Mr. Stoker's eyes earning a nod from the Doctor. "Now what?" Martha asked looking up at him.  
"If she's as smart as me I know. Come on"  
"Find the non-human. Execute." The Chief Judoon yelled.

Rose Tyler dashed into the TARDIS, ignoring the screams of her mother behind her as she shut the door, locking her mother out. Pulling out the sheet of paper that she had written the Doctor's instructions down on, she reached for one the levels. Pausing she looked up at the TARDIS column. "Work with me this girl I'm not Bad Wolf." Taking a breath she hit three buttons and pulled down the level. She grabbed the rail as the TARDIS gave a violent jerk and spun into the Time Space vortex.

After the bumps ended Rose let go of the railing and checked the screen, it showed her what looked like a hospital store room. She rushed over and flung the doors open to assure herself. Grinning at her success she returned to the control panel and hit the needed buttons. "Good luck." Rose told the TARDIS before rushing out to find the Doctor. 

Rose ducked around the Judoon, assuming they were the aliens she was seeing marching about. Sighing she looked around trying to think of where the Doctor would go. She rushed up a floor, she figured the Doctor would go into one of the machine heavy areas to arm himself against aliens. She ran around a corner and was caught by the Doctor. He grinned,  
"Well done Rose, is the TARDIS pumping oxygen." Rose nodded,  
"Yeah she's working on it. Are you okay Doctor." He shrugged,  
"Been better." Rose looked at Martha. "Rose Tyler this is Martha Jones." "Hello." Martha said holding out her hand and shaking Rose's before looking at the Doctor. "Now what Doctor?" The Doctor looked at them.  
"Stay here. I need time. You're going to have to hold them up"  
"How do we do that?" Rose and Martha asked at the same time. The Doctor sighed and looked at Rose,  
"Rose, forgive me for this. It's to save a thousand lives, it means nothing. Honestly, nothing." The Doctor then kissed Rose soundly, shocking both Rose and Martha. He pulled away and dashed off in the other direction.  
"That was nothing?" Martha chuckled as Rose slowly regained her senses, "Sure looked like something from here." Rose looked over at Martha and grinned,  
"Sure felt like it too." 

The Doctor entered the MRI room and covered his lack of surprise with finding Florence Finnegan working on the controls with stumbling about. "Have you seen what's going on out there?! There are these rhinos... and we're on the moon"  
"Hold him!" She snapped to her slabs.

Rose and Martha both flinched at the heavy sound of the Judoon marching towards them. "Any idea what he was going on about?" Martha asked,  
"Even after four years I still only understand him a little over half the time." Martha laughed, "Yeah I get that"  
"Find the non-human. Execute." Martha took a deep breath and stepped forward in front of Rose.  
"Now, listen. I know who you're looking for. She's this woman. She calls herself Florence." The Judoon examines her with his blue light. "Human." They gently push Martha out of the way and scan Rose. He blinks in suprise.  
"Human. With non-human traits suspected. Non-human element confirmed. Authorize full scan. What are you? What are you?" Rose sighed now understanding what he meant and telling herself not to kill him later on in the TARDIS.

In the MRI room, Florence Finnegan contuined to fuss with the MRI machine, ignoring the Doctor to the best of her ability. "That thing, that big machine thing, is it supposed to be making that noise"  
"You wouldn't understand"  
"Isn't that a magnetic resonance imaging machine? Like a sort of a magnet? I did magnets at GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same"  
"The magnetic setting is now set to 50,000 Tesla"  
"Isn't that too strong"  
"I can send out a magnetic pulse that will fry the brain-stems of every living thing within 250,000 miles. Except me, safe in this room"  
"But... hold on, hold on, I did geography for GCSE, I did pass that one, doesn't that distance include Earth"  
"Only the side facing the moon. The other half will survive. Call it my little gift"  
"I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little out of my depth but why would you do that"  
"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be mine, to make my escape"  
"Now, that's weird. You're talking like you're some sort of an alien"  
"Right-o"  
"No!" The Doctor gasped, faking surprise.  
"Oh, yes"  
"You're loony"  
"I am not"  
"I'm talking to an alien? In hospital? What, has the place got an ET department"  
"It's the perfect hiding place. Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast, and all this equipment I'm ready to arm myself with should the police come looking"  
"So, those rhinos, they're looking for you"  
"Yes. But I'm hidden"  
"Oh. Right! Maybe that's why they're increasing their scans"  
"They're doing what"  
"Big chief rhino boy, he said, no sign of a non-human, we must increase our scans... up to setting two"  
"Then I must assimilate again"  
"What does that mean"  
"I must appear to be human"  
"How do you do that? Makeup?" Florence smiled and pulled out her straw.  
"Oh no something better. Steady him!" The Slabs grab the Doctor who yells,  
"What are you doing? "I'm afraid this is going to hurt. But if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember."

Rose was compeltely still as the Judoon drew the cross on her hand. "Confirmed: human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search." He hands Rose a slip of paper, "You will need this"  
"What's that for?" Martha asked as Rose turned it over to read it.  
"Compensation." Rose smiled,  
"Maybe it won't be such a lost day after all." She motioned for Martha to follow her.  
"Are things always like this with him?" Rose laughed as they climbed the stairs,  
"Pretty much."

The Doctor's face contorted with pain as Florence drank his blood with the straw. He blinked, able to hear the Judoon enter the room jsut before he collasped. Florence looked up at them, "Now see what you've done. This poor man just died of fright." Behind them Martha grabbed Rose holding her back as the Judoon moved forward.  
"Scan him! Confirmation: deceased"  
"No, he can't be. Let me through, let me see him!" Rose screamed, breaking away from Martha and stumbling to the Doctor's side.  
"Stop. Case closed"  
"But it was her. She killed him. She did it. She murdered him." Martha yelled as Rose tried to wake the Doctor up.  
"The Judoon have no authority over human crime"  
"But she's not human." Martha insisted not daring to look at Rose and the Doctor.  
"Oh, but I am. I've been catalogued"  
"But she's not! She assimil - Wait a minute. You drank his blood. The Doctor's blood." She looked from the Doctor to Florence for a moment before grabbing a scanner. "Oh, all right. Scan all you like." The machine beeped and the chief Rudoon read,  
"Non-human"  
"What"  
"Confirm analysis." The Rudoon Chief insisted.  
"Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come"  
"He gave his life so they'd find you." Martha said softly looking harshly at Florence.  
"Confirmed: Plasmavore. I charge you with the crime of murdering the princess of Patrival Regency Nine." Martha sat down next to Rose and took her hand, holding her shoulder gently.  
"She deserved it! Those pink cheeks and those blond curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a plasmavore"  
"Do you confess?  
"Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab - stop them!" The Slab shoots at the soldiers who return fire.

Rose leans over to cover the Doctor and duck under the lazers. Three shots hit the Slab and it fell to the floor in a pile of ash, Florence backed up slowly.  
"Verdict: guilty. Sentence: execution." The warning sign light up: MAGNETIC OVERLOAD.  
"Enjoy your victory, Judoon, because you're going to burn with me. Burn in hell!" They ignore her threat and open fire, her scream is lost as she turns to dust.  
"Case closed"  
"What did she mean, "Burn with me?" The scanner shouldn't be doing that. She's done something." Martha yelled at the Judoon.  
"Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse"  
"Well, do something! Stop it"  
"Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate"  
"You can't just leave it. What's it going to do?" Martha asked trying to shake Rose out of her daze.  
"All units withdraw." They depart. The sign continues to flash: MAGNETIC OVERLOAD.

People along the halls watch them go weakly, the oxygen from the TARDIS keeping them alive but not giving them enough to stand. Martha stood and yelled after the Judoon,  
"You can't go. That thing's going to explode and it's all your fault." Martha rushes back into the room to see Rose inhaling deeply with her eyes closed. "Rose move I need to do CPR." Suddenly Rose's eyes snapped open and she looked at Martha, they were glowing gold making Martha take a step back.  
"He will be fine." Gold sparks danced around her and she smiled as she kissed the Doctor. Martha gaped and then grinned as the color returned to the Doctor's face. Rose fell back as her eyes returned to normal. "The scanner. She did something." Rose gasped to the Doctor as Martha moved behind her to hold her up. Coughing, the Doctor crawls and staggers to the MRI machine, and unplugs it. Martha looked up him as he scopped up Rose and carried her out of the room. Standing up quickly she followed him, "How much longer will the oxygen last"  
"Rose bought us maybe a few more mintues." He looked out the window at the alien ship. "Come on Reverse it." He grinned as it began to rain.  
"It's raining on the moon." Martha whispered stepping forward. The Doctor laughed,  
"Fantastic isn't it." Martha looked over at him,  
"Why aren't you dead"  
"Rose." The Doctor laughed, "She may be human but she's a very special human." In a flash of white light, they disappear, and the hospital reappears where it originally was, with Tish and the onlookers standing at the side of the hole. The Doctor smiled at Martha and then walked away from leaving her looking out the window at the busy street.

The Doctor smiled when Rose opened her eyes, she looked around at her surroundings finding herself in the TARDIS medical wing and smiled at him. Sitting up slolwy she grinned at him, "Alright there Doctor?" He laughed,  
"You like saving my life don't you Rose Tyler." Rose laughed happily and hugged him before tossing her hair,  
"Some one has got to keep you out of too much trouble and besides I don't play the damasel in distress in one of those old cheesy sci-fi shows"  
"Let me guess Rickey enjoys those." Rose gave him a stern look as she climbed to her feet and started walking to the control room,  
"You even tease him when he's not around." The Doctor grinned broadly at that. "If I didn't know better I'd think you were jealous"  
"I am not jealous of your ex-boyfriend." Rose laughed.  
"Oh you so are." She looked around and blinked in confusion.  
"Looking for someone Rose?" The Doctor asked her grinning, Rose turned and smiled in return,  
"Maybe someone"

The dark street was echoing with music from a small club from which a blond woman stormed out, being followed by Martha's father. "I am not prepared to be insulted!" Annalise yelled back at Clive.  
"She didn't mean it, sweetheart. She just said you look healthy." Clive insisted.  
"No, I did not. I said orange." Francine informed her ex-husband.  
"Clive, that woman is disrespecting me. She's never liked me"  
"Oh, I can't think why, after you stole my husband"  
"I was seduced. I'm entirely innocent! Tell her, Clive"  
"And then she has a go at Martha, practically accused her of making the whole thing up." Francine yelled back as Martha tried to stop the fight from behind her.  
"Mum, I don't mind. Just leave it"  
"Oh. "I've been to the moon!" As if. They were drugged. It said so on the news"  
"Since when did you watch the news? You can't handle "Quiz Mania"  
"Annalise started it. She did. I heard her." Tish whispered to Martha. Their brother Leo shook his head,  
"Don't make it worse"  
"You're talking, Leo. What did she buy you, soap? A seventy-five pence soap"  
"Oh, I'm never talking to your family again!" Annalise snapped walking for the car."Oh, stay. Have a night out"  
"Don't you dare. I'm putting my foot down. This is me, putting my foot down." Clive yelled to Annalise.  
"Dad!" Leo yelled chasing after his father. The whole family went down the street, still yelling at each other but Martha looked across the street to see the Doctor and Rose smiling at her. 

Rose motioned for her to follow them. Martha followed the Rose and the Doctor into the alley where they lead her to the TARDIS.  
"I went to the moon today"  
"A bit more peaceful than down here." Rose remarked, still able to hear the shooting of Martha's family. "Your mum might be worse than mine." "No one is worse than Jackie." The Doctor remarked with a shudder.  
"You never even told me who you are"  
"The Doctor." Rose laughed, "And I'm Rose"  
"What sort of species? It's not every day I get to ask that."Rose shrugged, "Believe it or not, I'm human." The Doctor crossed his arms, "I'm a Time Lord"  
"Right! Not pompous at all, then"  
"We just thought you might fancy a trip"  
"What, into space?" Martha asked looking at them, Rose laughed and grinned.  
"I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad"  
"If it helps, we can travel in time." Rose added.  
"Get out of here"  
"I can." The Doctor defended.  
"Come on now, that's going too far"  
"I'll prove it." He winks at Rose and entered the TARDIS. Rose grinned as it disappeared for a moment before reappearing. The Doctor stepped out and handed Rose her jacket, the one he had given to Martha earlier. "See"  
"I know, but... that was this morning! But - Did you... Oh, my God! You can travel in time! But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go in to work"  
"Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden"  
"Except for little tricks." Rose added with a chuckle.  
"And that's your spaceship?" Nodding Rose beat the Doctor, "It's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space." The Doctor gave her a pleased but slightly suprised look.  
"Your spaceship's made of wood. There's not much room. We'd be a bit intimate." Rose's face darkened at this.  
"Don't get any ideas." The Doctor pushes the door open to let Martha step inside.  
"Take a look."

The Doctor leans against the side while Rose grins and mentally counts down, a second later Martha dashes out of the TARDIS. "Oh, no, no." She circles the box while the Doctor and Rose smile. "But it's just a box. But it's huge. How does it do that?" She knocks on the side, "It's wood." Rose steps inside followed by Martha. "It's like a box with that room just rammed in." Rose and the Doctor looked at each other and mouthed along with Martha, "It's bigger on the inside"  
"Yes it is. All right, then, let's get going." Rose cheered at the Doctor's words and ran to the controls.  
"But is there a crew? Like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?  
"Just me and Rose." Martha shook her head and looked around.  
"And the two of you go flying through space and time." Rose nodded,  
"Sometimes other people like you join up for a bit." Martha moved next to Rose slowly.  
"Oh great I'm the third wheel." She looked between them, "Let's just keep the public displays of affection down okay." Rose blushed but the Doctor defended himself,  
"Ah that was just to delay the Judoon." Rose nodded with the Doctor.  
"Yeah it didn't mean anything." Martha smirked and leaned against the rail. "I may not have two hearts but I have got two eyes"  
"Don't argue with the designated driver."Rose warned Martha with a blush.  
"Fine then, whatever you two say." Martha replied winking at Rose and leaning back against the railing, "But I'm more of a human girl myself"  
"Good that will keep you out of trouble." The Doctor remarked, "Well then, ready"  
"No." Martha laughed shaking her head.  
"Off we go." The Doctor hit the lever and Rose grabbed onto the rail as Martha fell the ground. She pulled herself up.  
"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy"  
"Welcome to the TARDIS Martha!" Rose laughed as she grabbed the Doctor's hand and held on as they spun through time and space.

Coming Soon: The Master's Grasp I 


	12. The Master's Grasp I

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Twelve: The Master's Grasp I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: And so begins the season finale of my third season. I think that this series will be seven or eight seasons long but stay with me as they are going to be a wild ride. The next book "season" The Name of the Universe will begin soon afterwards and will defiantly include rewrites of Shakespeare Code, End of Days (Torchwood episode rewrite) and Human Nature/Family of Blood. Please please let me know if there is an episode you want rewritten and remember to review the story and the series!

Without a single noise the fragile green being floated a few inches off the ground across the room. Any legs it had were hidden by the long white robe and it's four long light green hands joined at folded hands at it's chest. It gazed out at the massive black stone room through shimmering white eyes and seemed happy as it reached a set of double doors at the end of the hall. Unfolding it's four hands the being held them up around itself and then bowed lowly before the doors. Then it spoke, a soft musical tone, "I offer myself completely to our great lord." The doors slowly opened, creaking as their heavy weight moved to open the way to the creature. It rose and floated through the open arch and then the heavy doors slid closed behind it. Everything was still for a long moment and then a scream echoed from deep below, it was followed by a laugh, a deep, evil and pleased laugh.

The three bright red suns above made Martha Jones shield her eyes as she stepped out of the TARDIS behind the Doctor. "Give it a moment, your eyes ▒ill adjust in a tick." The Doctor assured her, leaning against the TARDIS grinning as Rose stepped out. They both watched as Martha looked around, turning slowly and taking in the blue plants that covered the red ground spanning over to some purple mountains in the distant.  
"Oh my God!" Martha gasped turning in slow circles, "We did it we actually did it, we're on another planet." Rose laughed in joy and grinned at their guest before stepping out into the field herself. For good measure Rose inhaled the alien air deeply and spun in a circle. Martha laughed and clapped her hands as Rose stopped, still laughing. "Welcome to Trifictornias." The Doctor informed them with a small, "The third planet in orbit around the star the locals call Lyriande. But due to it's position in regard to four other stars, there is always a sun up on this planet." Martha looked at him sharply,  
"The locals, you mean the aliens right"  
"Here you're the alien Martha Jones." Martha paused and nodded,  
"Right sorry still trying to wrap my head around this." Rose gave her a soft understanding smile.  
"It's okay happens to me sometimes too, even after four years." "Three years?" Martha's eyes widened. Rose shrugged,  
"Well four or four and a half, hard to keep track of time in the TARDIS." Martha raised an eyebrow and gave a short laugh before looking back out at the scene before her.  
"So now what?"

The Doctor laughed at her question and stepped forward, taking Rose's hand. "Now comes the fun part Martha Jones," he grinned, "Meeting the locals." Martha gave him a weak smile and nodded as bravely as she could. Rose gave Martha an encouraging smile that made Martha feel a bit better and held out her free hand to the other woman. Shaking her head Martha laughed and took it before the Doctor started leading them off towards a body of pink water down the hill. Martha gasped when she saw a city come into view, the Doctor nodded releasing Rose's hand to shove his in his pockets. "The natives are very evolved, they have space travel abilities but they prefer to stay home." He grinned, "But the whole planet acts as a travel station"  
"Tourist trap." Martha laughed, looking up at the grinning Doctor, "An alien tourist trap"  
"Yep, give humans a few hundred years to get out here and they'll really help the economy." At Martha and Rose's looks he grinned, "Well look at you two." Rose laughed and grabbed his arm, smiling up at him. Martha watched with a small smile, confused but deciding that it was okay.

They entered the city from the west, it was clearly the main business area with alien shops, restaurants, ship repair shops and space ship dealerships. Martha looked around letting a random question slip every so often while the Doctor told her and Rose about the local culture and traditions. Naturally Martha had a hard time not staring at the locals, they floated about with no visible legs and all of them were a light green color with four arms. Their long faces and large eyes made them strangely beautiful. "So they never leave the planet?" Rose asked in surprise but the Doctor shook his head,  
"Due to their suns they are never in the dark, they fear it too much so leaving the planet for dark space is out of the question. The Trifictornians are all peaceful, pure pacifists but their telepathic powers let them prevent any attacks on them by other planets." Rose gaped and looked around at the aliens moving about the open street. "Can they read our thoughts?" The Doctor shook his head,  
"Nay they use telepathy to talk to each other but never break into the minds of others"  
"Are you sure?" Martha asked, the Doctor nodded firmly.  
"Trust me Martha I've been doing this for along time"  
"How long?" Martha asked the Doctor who blinked in surprise at her question then he grinned,  
"About nine hundred years." Martha's jaw slacked and Rose giggled at the look on her face. Finally Martha nodded,  
"Well I suppose being alien and all your life span might just be different." 

The Doctor suddenly stopped causing Rose and Martha to spin and look at him. Reaching into his coat he pulled out the psychic paper. Flipping it open he frowned slightly at the message, next to him Rose stood on her toes to see over his shoulder. The message simply read, "Help us! Trigog Hall!" Rose and the Doctor exchanged glances while Martha frowned.  
"Does this happen often, cries for help." Rose nodded while the Doctor turned around to get his bearings, looking at Martha she said in a low voice,  
"The Doctor is called that because he fixes planets and solves problems." Rose glanced back at him before looking back to Martha, "We find a lot of trouble." Rose sighed, "I was hoping that your thank you trip would calm." "Rose!" The Doctor called reclaiming their attention, "Martha, I think you should return to the ship." Rose blinked in surprise.  
"Why?" Then she looked up and gasped as one of the suns began to be covered by another planet or moon. The Doctor looked terrified.  
"This planet never gets dark Rose, it always has at least three suns up except once every three thousand years when an eclipse blocks out all of the suns." He turned to them sharply, "The people on this planet are going to start panicking as soon as the rest of the eclipses start, they've never been in the dark." He touched Rose's shoulder, "Get back to the TARDIS both of you." Rose blinked at him and then frowned,  
"And leave you behind." The Doctor sighed but didn't relax his hold on her.  
"Rose I'm going to go warn the leaders and explain to them what is going to happen so we can avoid a serious panic but you have to get Martha back to the TARDIS"  
"What about that message?" Martha asked, "Doesn't that mean someone already knows." Rose nodded in agreement and the Doctor sighed, beginning to lose patience.  
"Probably some scientists Martha." He looked down at Rose, "Rose please, return to the TARDIS." He pulled out the cell phone he carried from time to time. "Watch the situation on the scanner and let me know how soon the eclipse will clear." Finally Rose nodded and took a step back from the Doctor.  
"Be careful Doctor." Rose told him managing a smile and he threw her his usual manic grin.  
"Don't worry I'll have this sorted soon." Then he took off, vanishing into the crowded streets. 

Rose turned to Martha and noticed that the locals were starting to look up into the sky with bemused expressions on their soft faces. "We'd better go." Martha muttered looking around. Rose nodded and they headed back the way they in nervous silence. Finally Martha muttered, "I'm sure I've seen this plot in a film." Rose smiled and chuckled,  
"Pitch Black, lights went out and everything else crawled out." Martha shuddered and looked around the city as they walked out of it.  
"Still the Doctor seems to know what he is doing." Rose nodded,  
"Yeah but he also attracts trouble."

The inclosed room was filled by the thrum of machines and was a sterile white color. In the massive high ceiling room, lit by light orbs five of the native Trifictornians lay strapped to metal tables, their eyes closed in terror. Soft footsteps made them shudder as their captor stepped into the room but kept to the shadows out of the reach of the lights. Reaching out a black gloved hand he hit some switches and the room went black. The Trifictornians cried out in pure terror at being for the first time in their lives, in the dark. Their captor smiled as his instruments registered the psychic energy radiating from them, storing it up in the systems. "Soon." He hissed, "Soon."

The Doctor climbed the stairs to Trigog Hall in a rush, one of the suns was completely covered and one of the others would be setting soon. It was only a matter of time before the third was blocked out and the other weren't due to rise for hours. Stopping one of the Trifictornians he asked her, "Who is in charge of this city?" She blinked at him in surprise. "Who is in charge of the planet nowadays?" She nodded and pointed up the stairs and he nodded, "Thanks." The Doctor dashed up the stairs but stopped short when he stepped into the massive black vaulted room, everything about the room seemed wrong for the planet. Frowning he moved towards the double doors slowly and then they opened with a loud creak. Then after a moments pause the Doctor walked through the doors and into the long hallways. 

Stepping into the lab room, the Doctor was taken back by the sight of the dead Trifictornians lying on the tables. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver he scanned the first one he came to. "Brain failure." A voice told the Doctor, he looked up to see a dark haired man in a black suit step into the lights, a low buzzing in the back of the Doctor head made him blink in surprise. "Don't recognize me old friend and here I though we were best enemies." The Doctor glared at him,  
"What brings the Master to this planet." The Master smirked and motioned to the dead Trifictornians.  
"Just look at these creatures Doctor." He walked forward and rubbed his hands together, "The are telepathic and carry tremendous energy that is easily gathered with the right equipment." He smirked and motioned to the dead aliens. "And all you have to do to get them to release all that energy is" the Master smirked, "turn out the lights." The Doctor glared,  
"So you wait for them to panic during the eclipse and gather up the energy but what for?" The Doctor stepped forward towards the Master, "What are you up to this time?" The Master laughed,  
"I'm merely trying to repair my TARDIS Doctor. As it is now I'm using a primitive Vortex Manipulator"  
"By destroying the entire population?!" The Doctor yelled motioning the dead corpses but the Master laughed darkly.  
"Yes Doctor, your TARDIS is all but useless. I left my first TARDIS on this planet years ago before I upgraded. It's not one of the last models but newer by at least five hundred years than yours. The energy of the population will wake it up again." The Master reached to the side and hit a large mauve button. "Goodbye Doctor." The Doctor didn't have time to react before he was hit from behind with a bolt of energy, a large hairy creature stepped out of the doorway with a weapon. "Well done Merxac. Take the Doctor and drop him outside the city." Using his toe the Master rolled the back onto his back and smiled down at him almost cheerfully. "Let the game begin again between us Doctor." The Master paused, "Starting with your companion Rose."

Martha leaned against the rail while Rose dashed to the monitor and began pressing it in random places. "Do you actually know what you're doing?" Rose stopped, realizing that she had been using it and blinked before looking up at Martha.  
"Not really, it just sorta seems right." Rose shrugged, "Like the TARDIS is helping me out"  
"The TARDIS?" Martha asked with a laugh looking up at the blue green column. Rose nodded serious and looked over at Martha who lowered her eyes to look at Rose.  
"The TARDIS is alive Martha, she thinks, she feels." Rose ran her hand over the controls. "Don't underestimate what she can do." Martha frowned,  
"How is it you're so sure of that Rose." "Something happened with me and TARDIS a few years back." Martha paused and watched as Rose readjusted the controls with a firm and determined look on her face.  
"You're not what I expected." Martha finally said as she walked up behind Rose, to watch over her shoulder. Rose laughed and smiled,  
"What were you expecting?" Martha shrugged,  
"I don't know I guess I figured you'd be a scientist or something." Rose shook her head.  
"Nope, I don't even have A levels. You're the doctor in training here." Martha smiled at Rose and touched her shoulder in a friendly gesture.  
"Maybe but I rapidly seeing that all that doesn't matter much out here. You're good at this Rose Tyler." Rose turned to Martha and gave her fellow companion a smile,  
"Thanks Martha Jones." The scanner blinked and they both turned to look at it as it presented a visual of the planet's suns movements. Pulling out her cell phone Rose hit her speed dial and waited as it rang. She frowned as it kept ringing, next to her she felt Martha tense. Finally the phone stopped ringing but there was still answer. Rose dialed again as fear rose up in her and she tightened her hold on the TARDIS console. "No answer." She whispered closing the clamshell phone. Martha pulled out her phone and asked,  
"What's the number?" Again there was no answer. Martha looked at Rose, "Now what?"

"Calm down." The two women turned in shock to look at the stranger at the door, he seemed exhausted and worried. Turning his eyes to Rose he smiled.  
"Rose it's me." Ignoring Martha's questioning look Rose stepped forward slowly. The dark haired man grinned at her, "It's me Rose"  
"Who are you?" Martha hissed and he frowned.  
"I'm the Doctor"  
▒You can't be." Martha snapped back moving down the ramp. "You look nothing like the Doctor." He sighed and shook his head,  
"I regenerated." He looked back at Rose and held out his hand to her with a small smile. "Rose?" Slowly Rose moved towards him as Martha gaped at the stranger.  
"Rose what is he talking about? What's regeneration?" Rose blinked and looked at her,  
"Oh regeneration happens when a Time Lord is killed." Rose started,  
"And our bodies change, each and every cell to save ourselves but it's still me." Rose frowned slightly and stopped near him, watching him carefully. He sighed,  
"Rose it's me. Come on it is the Doctor." He stepped forward and took her hand, Rose froze looking down at her hand and he whispered, "Come on Rose it's me." She looked up at him and he smiled at her. "Hello."

Rose began to smile and then stopped as the TARDIS shifted in her mind, she was certain it was the ship but it felt angry and urgent. Looking back down at her hand Rose released the strangers hand and stepped back. "Get out." Martha grabbed Rose's shoulder,  
"Rose are you crazy?" Rose threw off Martha's hand.  
"I'm not fooled, you aren't the Doctor." The stranger blinked in alarm.  
"Rose I told you about regeneration." She shook her head angrily.  
"I said get out, both the TARDIS and I know you aren't the Doctor." The stranger blinked and looked at the TARDIS,  
"You can commincate with the TARDIS." He paused, "You're proving more and more interesting each encounter Rose Tyler." Before Rose or Martha could react the stranger pressed a button on a device on his wrist and an electrical shock hit both of the companions. Chuckling the stranger pulled out some restraints and bound Rose before doing the same with Martha. Looking up at the TARDIS console he laughed before setting down an envelop on the console. The Master gave a sharp whistle and another one of the large creatures stumbled into the TARDIS, "Take the blond girl."

Coming Soon: The Master's Grasp II 


	13. The Master's Grasp II

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Thirteen: The Master's Grasp II

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Okay only one episode to go and then on to the next "season"! Remember reviews make me write faster!

Dark panels and controls marked the Master's TARDIS, reflecting the character of it's owner but the silence of the dead machine was frightening. The only light in the massive and dark control room was a prison beam machine. The Master smirked as he circled Rose carefully watching her for any movement and maintaining his scans of her at all times. Only the tap of his boots and the sound of her thin breathing provided any relief from the silence. Rose herself was frozen, floating within a beam of ghastly green light, eyes closed and breathing strained, completely unaware of her captive position. Turning away for a moment the Master pressed a series of three black buttons on a panel, the beam changed to a light violet color and Rose began to stir slightly. Blinking she wasn't yet aware of what was happening but as she tried to bring her hand up to rub her eyes she panicked as she discovered that she couldn't. "Good morning my dear." The Master stepped out in front of her so she could see him, "Your eyes are the only thing you can control Rose although your ears and life functions are working. Everything else is held in stasis but I felt I should let you see and hear me." Rose was unable to respond and he laughed. "I confess it is nice to have you silent, you're always throwing out a biting comment or two. Although last time we met you seemed to focus more on trying to kick me." Rose gave him the nastiest look she could manage with only her eyes.

Stepping closer, the Master stopped only a meter or so away from her, his eyes a lit with a dark interest as Rose could see the wheels of his mind turning. "You are a most fascinating creature, Rose Tyler." The glint in his eye was a mix of curiosity, malice and greed as he began to circle her in the beam, his hands clasped behind his back. "You are a human being, born on Earth in 1986. There was nothing special about you as a child and there was nothing special about you when you boarded the TARDIS." He paused considering his words, "And yet you absorbed the Time Vortex." He stopped and looked at her. "Time Lords look into the Time Vortex also Rose." He moved in front of her very quickly and moved close to her until he was eye to eye with her. "I remember when I did..." The Master trailed off, "It was terrible and beautiful." His eyes glazed over and he trembled slightly, "And since then I hear this pounding in my head." Returning his eyes to her, he rasped, "The drums of the Vortex driving me forward." Rose would have shivered at his tone if she could have. Slowly the Master reached into the beam for Rose's face, brushing his fingers over her cheek he sighed, "Why could you do it?" Still unable to answer Rose closed her eyes tightly as the Master ran his fingers over her face. "Why you Rose Tyler?"

Sighing and trying to regain himself the Master stepped back from Rose, he cradled the hand that had touched her gently and shivered. "I can feel the power coming off you, how the Doctor stands by and does nothing I can't understand." Turning his back on her sharply he pulled his black gloves back on and checked his readings. "He ignores you Rose." He murmured after a moment and turned back to her. "He disregards the holy glory that you are, the gift to the universe." Reaching back he hit another button and the beam light turned to a light blue just as a force field appeared around the beam, locking her in. Rose blinked and shifted her neck as she tried to ignore the Master, happy to move again. Reaching out she tested the force field but pulled back her hand as her finger tips were burned. The Master smiled and leaned back against the controls. "You could be so great Rose." Rose raised her eyebrow at the Master's statement. "With a real genius you could rule all of the universe." When Rose did not reply the Master strode forward as far as he could to the force field, leaving him only a small distance from her. "Why side with the Doctor Rose?" He smirked, "He does not return your love." Rose blinked in surprise and the Master smirked evilly, "Anyone who see the way you look at him knows Rose. He will never hold you and cherish what you are now Rose." He softened his expression, "Why not come to a Time Lord who will?"

Rose held his gaze for a long moment trying to calm herself down. Then in a low tone she looked straight at the Master and replied, "I looked into the vortex knowing that it would hurt me but I looked into it for him." She paused, "Not for myself but for him, to save him. I loved him and it was enough." Rose frowned deeply, "So why do you think I'd change sides now," She smirked, "Especially for a Time Lord that isn't even a Time Lord anymore. You're just a body snatcher." The Master snarled at Rose and hit three buttons behind him. Rose gasped as the beam turned green again, leaving her completely frozen. The Master turned off the force field, reaching through the beam he roughly grabbed Rose and kissed her before putting his hands around her neck and slowly tightened his grip. 

The Doctor groaned as he stumbled into the TARDIS, the electric shock had left him weak and he was fairly certain only one of his hearts was active. Taking a deep breath he grasped the railings pulling himself up the ramp as he shook his head to clear it. He frowned and tried to concentrate as he heard muffled cries. Finally he cleared his head enough to look down at the bound Martha Jones, eyes widening the Doctor knelt slowly to release her. Martha fumbled out of the restraints quickly as the Doctor then fell back against the controls and slid to the floor. "Doctor?!" She knelt next to him trying to gain his attention. "Doctor what's wrong?!" he chuckled painfully,  
"Hit with a level five energy bolt." He took a deep breath and looked around before he tensed up. "Where's Rose?!" Martha frowned as she looked around too, seeing her panicked face the Doctor tried to pull himself up but fell back again clutching his chest. Grabbing Martha's shoulder he asked again, "Where is she"  
"The stranger must have taken her." Martha answered in a rush, "He pretended to be you but Rose saw through it but then I don't know he knocked us out or something." The Doctor grimaced as he tried to stand but fell back now unconscious,

Martha dragged the Doctor up using her shoulder to support him as she laid him down on the console floor. She winced as she checked his pulse, "I wish I knew what was normal for you." She looked around the control room, "I wish I knew if you had any medical supplies in here." Martha sighed and laid the Doctor's head back to let him breath more easily before looking up at the TARDIS. She stood and touched the controls gently. "Rose said that you're alive." Nothing happened making Martha sigh, "Well if any part of you is alive then help us. Take me somewhere I can help the Doctor." When there was no response Martha sighed and leaned weakly against the controls.

Rose gasped in relief and for air as the Master let his hands drop away from her neck. He stepped back examining her carefully with a frown and clinically detachment. "I was hoping to force you to use your powers but apparently that is going to be more difficult than I first imagined." He turned and picked up a long two handed remote. Turning back to Rose he pressed a short series of buttons and several small wires rose up from the base of the prison system and attached to Rose's head. With a small the Master pressed another button giving Rose a small shock. "Now my dear I shall turn up the heat as you humans might say." He smirked, "Show me that power and save yourself." He pressed another button, giving Rose the freedom to move but she only glared at him. The Master frowned a hit the button, holding it down and allowing the painful charge to remain in her system. Rose bit her lip, trying to hold back a scream but finally she screamed, making the Master smile.

The TARDIS shuddered violently, making Martha jump back in alarm as the machine sprang to life. Stepping back Martha gaped as the lights flashed on and the humming of the TARDIS deepened. After a moment she could feel the slight shaking of movement beginning and dropped to the floor to hold the Doctor in place. The control room shook as the TARDIS took off, Martha lowered her head now afraid as the machine flew itself. She barely noticed an envelope flutter down next to her. Grabbing it, Martha stuffed it into her coat and held the Doctor in place until everything stopped. The lights dimmed as some steam was released from the controls and after a long moment Martha stood up. "Okay then, where are we?"

The Master forced Rose's head back painfully, the probes still jolting her. "Come on!" He yelled, turning up the power but still Rose just screamed in agony. Stepping back the Master watched her convulsing with detached interest before reaching over and shutting power the power. Rose collapsed, barely aware of him or anything but her aching body as she curled into a fetal position to avoid touching the prison beams. Holding his hands behind his back the Master stepped up next to her. "Interesting." He paused looking at the readings, "It seems your power doesn't come out to protect yourself. No self defense response." He smirked as Rose glared up at him, "Or maybe a higher setting, your primitive species has such a strong survival instinct." Reaching back the Master hit one of the buttons on the remote which pulled Rose's body back up into a standing position. With a chilling laugh he pushed the button again and Rose's screams echoed through the Master's TARDIS.

Martha nearly screamed as the door of the TARDIS was shoved open and a tall dark haired bloke stepped inside. Jack Harkness blinked in surprise as his eyes landed on Martha. "Who are you?!" Martha demanded stepping in front of the Doctor. "Who the hell are you?!" Martha tightened her hold on the railings.  
"I'm warning you-" "Relax." Jack answered with a laugh as he held up a TARDIS key, "I have a key. I'm a friend of the Doctor and Rose." Martha relaxed slightly but tensed as his eyes landed on the Doctor. Jack's smile vanished as he rushed past Martha and knelt next to the Doctor. "What happened"  
"The Doctor said something about a level five energy bolt." Jack nodded and leaned the Doctor on his shoulder as he pulled him up. "Medical bay now."

Martha followed the stranger into the medical clinic, it was white and clean. She could see large cupboards and shelves full of alien medical equipment. Jack laid the Doctor back on a table and activated a scanner. Martha gaped slightly as an x-ray of the Doctor appeared, shaking herself out of it she stepped forward to look at it. "Only one heart is working." Jack nodded in agreement.  
"For what I hear level five blasts usually kill. It looks like it knocked out the right side of his body, all those organs aren't working." Martha nodded in understanding.  
"Well then," She walked over to one of the cupboards, "We need to put him on some kind of life support." Jack smiled and nodded.  
"Right." He jogged over next to her. "Now from what I remember in basic medicine we can use"  
"You a doctor?" Jack shook his head.  
"No you Miss..." Jack trailed off.  
"Martha Jones." Jack grinned and shook her hand.  
"Nice to meet you Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness."

They both jumped when a voice behind them snapped, "Enough with the flirting." Jack and Martha spun to see the Doctor trying to sit up but both rushed over to stop him. The Doctor blinked at Jack in surprise. "How did you get here"  
"TARDIS landed right in front of me Doctor." Jack answered with a grin trying to calm the Doctor down. "Now calm down and let us help you." The Doctor tried to stand again but lapsed back into unconsciousness. Jack tensed and picked up a scanner laying next to him and then looked up at Martha.  
"Okay Martha I need your help, step one find me some Telceconik." Martha blinked in surprise but saw how serious he was and rushed to the cabinets. Finding some she brought it to him.  
"Do you know what you're doing"  
"Fifty-first century first aid class"  
"Fifty-first century?!" Jack grinned at her surprise as he poured the Telceconik into a shot. Then he stabbed it into the Doctor's right heart making Martha jump. "Hope you have a strong stomache"  
"I'm a med student." Martha defended from the other side of the Doctor. Jack laughed,  
"What planet and what century"  
"Earth! Twenty-first century." Jack laughed.  
"Probably early twenty-first." Martha glared at him but then looked at the scanner as it lit up and showed the Doctor's heart beating. Smiling she looked down at the stirring Doctor and then up at Jack.  
"You did it!" Jack smiled.  
"Glad that worked," He shrugged, "That's really the only first aid I know." Martha frowned at him for a moment but couldn't stay angry as the Doctor sat up.

"So the TARDIS just materialized in front of you?" Jack nodded as the Doctor frowned and slid off the table dusting off his coat. "Martha what about you did you hit anything." Martha shook her head no but then said,  
"No but I did ask the TARDIS for help?" The Doctor looked at her, surprise written all over his face, "Rose said it was alive and could do lots of stuff. She told me not to underestimate her." The Doctor slowly smiled as he looked up at the ceiling of the medical bay.  
"Best ship in the galaxy." Jack nodded and then hesitantly asked,  
"Doctor where's Rose?" Both of them looked at Martha who tensed, clearly worried.  
"This man came into the TARDIS, knocked me out I bet he took Rose." The Doctor's eyes widened and he swore in his native tongue so neither Martha or Jack could understand him.  
"The Master!" Jack's eyes widened when the Doctor spat the name.  
"You mean he's here"  
"Not here but he's on Trifictornias and he's got Rose." Martha's eyes widened in a flash of memory as she dug into her pocket. "Here Doctor." 

The Doctor tore open the letter and frowned at the short and simple message. "I have her Doctor." Jack frowned and without another word both men dashed to the control room, leaving Martha to run after them. "Captain reset the extrapolator." Jack nodded and dropped under the main TARDIS controls. "I've never been to Trifictornias." Jack said as he pulled out the familiar wires and programed in the extrapolator.  
"Coming then?" The Doctor asked as he set in the time space coordinates.  
"Yeah I think a year here was more than enough, I've rebuilt their system and now its up to them." The Doctor nodded and looked at Martha. "Hang on then." He pulled the lever and the TARDIS jolted as it shifted into the Time Space vortex.

Rose gasped for air as the Master revealed the pressure on her and switched off the machine. He cursed in a language the TARDIS didn't want to translate, she fell to her knees and the Master looked at her angrily. Snapping his fingers he signaled for two large hairy beasts who walked in. Switching off the forcefield he let them pick up Rose and take her deeper into his TARDIS. Rose tried to keep her eyes open as exhaustion threatened her so she could keep track of her location. The creatures set her on an examining table in another laboratory and then settled against the wall as the Master walked in. "Perhaps it's the force field"  
"Or maybe its cause I don't like you." Rose snapped at him as he restrained her arms and ankles. The Master chuckled, "You know what Rose Tyler." She glared and he laughed, "I like you." Then he pulled out a small vial and inserted it into a syringe, "Let's try this"  
"What is it?" Rose asked trying to hide her nervousness.  
"A powerful hallucinogen." He slid the needle into Rose's neck and injected the solution. "Now lets see who is afraid of the big Bad Wolf."

Rose tried to pull away and whimpered despite herself as the solution rushed through her, throwing her head to the side she closed her eyes tightly as screams began to ring in her head. Pleased, the Master stepped back as Rose began to mutter and whisper, "Gwyneth... Scotti!" She tossed and jerked about as the screams of the dead filled her mind and then she opened her eyes, her golden eyes and screamed. The Master lunged forward to attach an energy probe to Rose but gasped as it turned to dust in his hand. The two beasts against the wall roared in fear, rushing from the Master's TARDIS. He stepped back as she struggled against the restraints but failed to free herself.  
"The hallucinogen..." He whispered and trailed off as he stepped forward, "You can't control it." Reaching out he grabbed Rose's head and looked directly into her eyes. 

The Master shivered as the drums sped up in his head leaving a frantic beat in his head as he gazed into the Time Vortex for the second time. Gasping his eyes widened as a golden light streamed into them from Rose. He clutched at the edge of the table as he began to shake violently before falling back to the floor. Rose gasped for air as her eyes cleared, the drug in her system burned away by the power of Bad Wolf. Soft footsteps made Rose turn her head and the soft whirling hum of the sonic screwdriver made her lift her eyes to look into the soft caring brown eyes of the future Doctor.

Coming Soon: Light the Way I 


	14. Light the Way I

Across Time and Space by CharmingSlayer Chapter Fourteen: Light the Way I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Let me break it down, reviews fast updates! That means if you're one of those 18 people who have this marked as a favorite but have never reviewed... get to it! I'm trying to get chapter length under control again but I have to keep rewriting and squeezing in new episodes.

The Doctor watched the TARDIS screen very carefully, waiting for anything, any sign of Rose's brain patterns or bio-print but the TARDIS wasn't finding her. Growling he changed the screen, beside him Jack asked,  
"What are you doing Doctor"  
"The TARDIS can't find her which means she being held in some kind of high power cell." Jack slowly nodded and then grinned,  
"So scan for high energy signatures or massive power drains." The Doctor nodded and Jack returned to adjusted his locator, trying to find her as well. After a moment he looked up at the Doctor, "It's a trap you know. He's got to have something rigged." Jack swallowed, "Or Rose might already be dead." The Doctor stilled but didn't respond at first,  
"He won't kill her Jack." He paused and tensed, "He knows about the Bad Wolf. The Master won't turn away from that kind of power." Martha frowned and walked up to Jack as he moved to the other side of the controls. In a low voice she asked,  
"What are you two talking about?" Jack sighed and glanced at the Doctor but seeing he wasn't paying any attention to them looked down at Martha.  
"A couple of years ago Rose came into contact with a very powerful energy source, the Time Vortex and will it changed her." Martha blinked and opened her mouth but Jack cut her off, "She's still human according to her DNA and any other scan in the universe but she has some extra abilities now using the energy"  
"Abilities this Master will use." Jack nodded and frowned,  
"Yeah."

Rose slowly became aware of the pressure on her hands and feet being lifted as she stared into the brown eyes of the Doctor's future form. Blinking she looked away and saw that he had opened the bonds using the sonic screwdriver, then Rose looked to the floor to see the Master lying completely still face down. "Is he dead?" The Doctor's eyes darkened when they dropped to the Master as a cold wave seemed to wash over him until he finally muttered,  
"No." He sighed and looked back at Rose, reaching out and brushing her cheek. "I'm so sorry Rose. I couldn't change the time line." Rose bit her lip to stop from crying, it had been terrible and painful but the look of guilt in his eyes was more painful.  
"I'm fine Doctor. You came." She stilled, "You didn't-" He smiled weakly and shook his head, knowing the rest of her question.  
"Not yet Rose but he did injury me badly enough that I couldn't get here in time." He turned and picked up Rose's coat that the Master had discarded on the floor and wrapped it around her gently, careful of her sore muscles.  
"So you jumped back here from a future time." He grinned and nodded, taking her hand.  
"Come on Rose." The Doctor didn't say anything else as he lead her out of the Master's TARDIS and back out into the main complex.

Looking around the future Doctor nodded and turned back to Rose. "Alright now I can't take you all the way out of here Rose, there are some things I need to do that I can't tell you about at this point in the time line." Rose nodded, understanding the odd position. "You can tell my current self about this, I'll need to know that I didn't fail you today." He put a finger over Rose's lips to keep her from saying anything. "No talking about what I look like or act like, regeneration isn't something I'm supposed to know about"  
"Then you are the next form." The Doctor nodded and grinned.  
"Bit of an improvement." Rose shrugged and smiled.  
"You're the Doctor, nothing else really matters." The future Doctor smiled and kissed her gently, just a short ghost of a kiss that surprised Rose.  
"You always say the right thing." He grinned at her before frowning with a look of concentration. "I know I'm forgetting something..." He trailed off and leaned his head back. "Oh yes now I remember!" He let go of Rose's hand and dug into his overcoat before pulling out a slightly smaller sonic screwdriver, this one had a red end rather than blue. Grinning he took Rose's hand and put the screwdriver into it. "This one is yours."

Rose blinked down at the red sonic screwdriver in her hand for a long moment before looking back up at the future Doctor who grinned at her. "Red for you, blue for me. Can't mix then up now can we. I tried pink that one didn't work out so good." Rose chuckled a little, trying to ignore the dull ache in her side but wasn't able to hide the flinch from the Doctor. The future Doctor's brown eyes softened as he brushed a stray tear that Rose hadn't been able to contain from her cheek, "I wish I could have changed this Rose." Shaking her head Rose just leaned into him, letting him hold her for a moment before she leaned back to look at his face.  
"I know Doctor and it's okay." He nodded bravely at her, giving her a small smile which she returned then a spark reentered his eyes.  
"Oh almost forgot!" He dug into his pockets and pulled out a very thick and large book. With a grin he dropped it into Rose's arms. "The manual"  
"There's a manual?" Rose gaped as she slid her sonic screwdriver into the right pocket of her jeans.  
"Yeah well it's very complicated you know." The future Doctor replied rubbing the back of his neck.  
"This is my handwriting." Rose commented as she flipped through the book.  
"Yes it is." At Rose's raised eyebrow he shrugged, "Well you claimed or rather will claim that everything I wrote down was all technobabble"  
"Technobabble?" Rose repeated smiling, her tongue slipping out as she tried not to laugh. Nodding seriously the future Doctor defended himself,  
"That was the word you used"  
"I doubt that." Rose answered with a laugh and then she frowned. "How did this fit in your pockets?" The future Doctor's face lit up with a grin.  
"They're bigger on the inside"  
"Five years together and now you tell me"  
"You never asked." The Doctor answered with a nod before looking down the hall. "Now Rose you have to get out of here before the Master comes."

"Yeah don't want him kissing me again." Rose joked not bothering to hide her shudder as she tightened the jacket tighter around herself. The future Doctor's eyes flashed and his face fell into a cold fury.  
"He kissed you?!" Rose gulped realizing her mistake. "Time line or not I'll kill him." Rose grabbed the Doctor's arm tightly and shook her head.  
"No reapers please." She bit her lip, trying to keep it together. "I can't- not today." His face instantly softened and he pulled her into a tight hug letting her lean on him.  
"I'm sorry Rose. I so sorry." Rose pulled away so she could see him and gave him a small smile.  
"Not your fault and hey you came to save me"  
"I always will." The future Doctor kissed her forehead softly and then whispered into her ear. "Run." Rose took a step back from him and he nodded, clutching the manual tightly to her chest with her right hand she turned and ran. The future Doctor watched her dash through a set of doors and nodded before turning to enter another area, glancing with disgust at the Master's TARDIS.

Jack grabbed the railing as the TARDIS landed roughly, throwing out his right arm to catch Martha who fell backwards. He grinned at her, not able to help himself and Martha returned the smile as she straightened up. "According to the power signature being generated we're just outside the building Rose is being held. This is the only place on the planet generating enough energy to hide her"  
"So do we have a plan to rescue Rose?" Martha asked, walking back up next to the Doctor.  
"It's not just Rose Martha, this planet is still about to be used by the Master to repower his TARDIS"  
"Making him able to go anywhere and anytime." Jack finished, "He'd be able to meddle in Rose's time line if he wanted." The Doctor nodded and crossed his arms as he looked at the screen. "We have to stop that from happening and save Rose"  
"Can't they just turn on the lights?" Martha asked raising her eyebrows.  
"Turn on the lights?" Jack questioned looking at the Doctor in confusion.  
"They don't have any lights." The Doctor answered Martha and then looked at Jack, "Basically psychic people, never been the dark, total eclipse in under two hours and the locals panic, releasing the energy the Master needs"  
"Yeah but you've got a time machine, I mean how hard can it be to rig up some big lights." Martha interrupted making both the Doctor and Jack look at her in surprise.  
"If we use their government to get them all in one place and light it up." The Doctor nodded,  
"Have you ever met the Trifictornians Captain"  
"Yes sir." Jack looked at the coordinates, "In fact we're only a few years away from my home time. I crossed them a few times, had some fun here and there." The Doctor nodded.  
"Then you get up some lights; I'm going after Rose"  
"Save the planet by myself?" The Doctor shook his head,  
"Martha will help." As they both opened their mouths the Doctor cut them off, "You can do this, I only travel with the best"  
"I thought I was on one trip." Martha remarked putting her hands on her hips.  
"Yeah but I still invited you along." Seeing the hesitation in her face he smiled, "Give yourself credit Martha Jones, lighting the place up simple but prefect." The Doctor didn't let her say anything else before running out the door.

Martha looked at Jack, "Well I hope you have an idea of where to start." Jack paused and nodded,  
"Yeah in some of the TARDIS store rooms there is some spare parts we can use and we can get everyone in one place pretty easy"  
"How?" Martha pressed but then she grew concerned as Jack grinned brightly.  
"Trust me Martha Jones, I promise you're going to like me." Jack dashed off into the depths of the TARDIS, Martha snorted a bit and followed.  
"I've met your type before Jack Harkness"  
"What is my type"  
"The kind every girl is told to stay away from." Jack laughed as they reached a plain door.  
"Oh Martha for me the warning should be every boy, girl and it." He shoved the door open, disappearing inside and leaving a slightly stunned Martha outside.  
"Okay." Martha muttered, "Okay but why is it always the gorgeous ones?"

Rose ran through the dark grey halls, settling for heading up since all the light seemed to be coming from up there but she hadn't seen the way in and couldn't be sure that she wasn't just heading for the roof of a skyscraper. Suddenly a crash behind here made her spin, "Hello?" Rose called backing away slowly as her eyes darted about. She gasped when a large furry creature similar to the ones she had seen with the Master earlier came towards her growling and waving a gun of sorts. Backing away Rose kept her eyes trailed on it as it raised the gun to fire as her muscles tensed to evade the attack. Then the beast roared in pain as it was hit with a blue beam and fell forward, the gun sliding to Rose's feet. Grabbing it Rose jumped back as she saw her rescuer step into view. The Master smirked,  
"Let me guess Rose you were expecting the Doctor." The Master toed the beast distastefully and shook his head, "I can't have you dead yet Rose." The Master sighed and set his gun on the floor, kicking it to the side. He held out his hands, "Really Rose I don't want to hurt you." Rose snorted and glared,  
"Yeah that's really convincing." The Master took a step closer.  
"So my TARDIS will be recharged off the energy of this planet's people and I will have control over the time lines again." He paused, "You could be so great Rose Tyler, that energy, I can still feel it pulsing in me. Become my companion and become the Mistress of all things."

Rose back away from the Master and shook her head, "Sorry I'm happy as is. I've got a good traveling deal now." The Master sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Then I'll have to kill you, the Doctor and this planet." Rose tensed up and raised the gun in one hand, pleased that her grip was solid on the unfamiliar object and her hand was steady. As the Master stepped forward, Rose clutched the book the Doctor had given her tighter and taken a step back. The Master stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Really Rose, I don't think you're a killer." She paused and breathed in,  
"But I know you are Master and I know your plan for these people." She put her finger on the lazer's trigger and breathed in, "Go to hell." Exhaling Rose squeezed the trigger but didn't blink as the Master fell back against the hall wall holding his chest. Raising his eyes to Rose he growled,  
"Shot by a girl, how horrid." Then he paused and breathed before blinking at Rose in shock. "Oh you are a prize Rose Tyler." Rose slid backwards but didn't stand, feeling weak all of a sudden under the Master's happy gaze. "I know this feeling." The Master's eyes slid closed, "Oh it has been too long and now it is time. Time for the Master to reclaim his rank as a Time Lord."

Rose couldn't breath as the Master pushed off the wall and exploded in light, his limbs and head glowing with an almost violent golden light, one she recognized. Her eyes adjusted and she gasped as she saw his features shift, his dark hair lightening and shortening to brown and his dark blue eyes turning to a shade of hazel. His height and build changed to shorter and stockier with more muscle. "Regeneration." She whispered in a mix of horror and awe.

The Master fell to his knees as he breathed into his new lungs and for a moment he was still before jumping up. Rose shifted back, trying to get her feet under her as he turned to look at her. He had an almost friendly face that was only betrayed by the glint in his brown eyes. "YES!" The Master cheered but then stopped touching his throat, "Oh new voice. Hello, hello. Hello." He straightened up and glanced down at his now slightly small black robes. "Have to fix that soon but first things first." Rose scrabbled to her and feet still holding the gun, grabbed the manual from the floor and clutched it to her chest. Stepping back slowly she shivered under the Master's gaze. "Thank you Rose Tyler." Rose's stopped and blinked in confusion but the Master grinned, stepping closer. "Thank you Rose. Because of you, your power I'm a Time Lord again."

Coming Soon: Light the Way II, the final chapter 


	15. Light the Way II

Across Time and Space by Peyton Halliwell Chapter Fifteen: Light the Way II

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and gain nothing from the creation of this story

AN: Most common noun in the English language: time, most common nonproper noun in this chapter: screwdriver. Review, I rewrote this chapter at least three times to make it prefect! Tell me it was worth it!!!

"Thank you Rose Tyler." Rose stopped and blinked in confusion but the Master grinned, stepping closer. "Thank you Rose. Because of you, your power I'm a Time Lord again."

"Get away from her Master." The Doctor's voice cut through the room and echoed in the halls, a cold fury underlying his words. Rose's eyes closed and she shivered at the warm wave of relief that over took her. The Master looked past Rose to see the Doctor stepping into the hall behind her. Moving next to Rose, the Doctor pushed her back behind him a bit repressing the urge to check that she was alright. Right now the Master had to hold his attention as the Master looked on with interest and the Doctor glared.  
"Hello Doctor. I like it when you use my name." The Master greeted him with a smile. "You chose it." The Doctor commented, folding his arms.  
"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better, so self righteous." He paused and rolled his shoulders. "What do you think of it Doctor? I can't wait to look into a mirror." The Doctor didn't reply, "Oh fine if you're going impolite let's talk about something more important shall we."

The Master raised his chin slightly and the Doctor reached for Rose's hand. "I've heard rumors since our last encounter on your TARDIS that are considered legends by the rest of the universe Doctor but I think you can fill in the blanks of way Gallifrey is gone"  
"It was the only way." The Doctor answered firmly, "We tried, we tried everything but the lines couldn't hold and they reached Gallifrey"  
"So you ended it." The Master commented, a small smile over taking his face. "The Council voted, President Romana decided that the Daleks should never gain control of our technology and they asked me"  
"Of course they did." The Master hissed, "After all you've destroyed planets before Doctor, even the Dalek home world Skaro, you burned their world with a supernova. The Oncoming Storm." The Master laughed darkly. "Hail the Doctor, the great exterminator." Clapping his hands, the Master grinned at the situation as he watched the Doctor tense, holding his anger back. Pretending to pout, the Master folded his hands and sighed. "Oh and now we're the only ones Doctor, just us. Sworn archenemies, best enemies in fact as we used to call each other. What do we do now?"

The Master raised his hand, drumming his fingers on his chin as if in deep thought. "I know you Doctor, considering that I'm the only other Time Lord you don't want to hurt me." Eyes settling on Rose, the Master smiled in pleasure, "But another part of you desperately wants to hurt me because I hurt her Doctor." He nodded at Rose, "I hooked her up in a energy prison and electrocuted her over and over and over again." The Master sighed happily making Rose pull her arms around herself and slip further behind the Doctor and out of the Master's view. "You should have heard her scream Doctor." 

Trailing off, the Master let the words hang in the air as he watched the tight expression on the Doctor's face. "You'd forgive me if I hurt you but her: your sweet little Rose Tyler that's another story." The Master shrugged, "I had more things in store of course. Had a whole list of delights for Rosebud but then all that power came out." Clapping his hands together once the Master cheered and pointed at Rose, "Forget the Eye of Harmony, that's what I'm talking about!" "Rose call Jack on your phone and go to him." The Doctor said firmly without looking away from the Master.  
"Jack?" Rose asked weakly but the Doctor didn't answer her query.  
"What about the planet Doctor?!" The Master cut in, "Surely if you're here you've got that fly boy fixing up a way to save them all while you rescue her."

The Doctor and Master stared each other down until the Master sighed. "Really can't we find something more interesting to talk about Doctor." He smirked, "Like how your little companion carries the power of the Time Vortex"  
"Where did you go during the war?" The Doctor asked crossing his arms, the Master sighed.  
"This broody form of your isn't very fun Doctor and I think my question was better." Sighing the Master shook his head, "The Time Lords offered to make me a Time Lord again with the Eye of Harmony if I helped in the war, they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform," The Master paused his eyes glazed over in memories, "I saw it. I ran, I didn't care about the reward of a new regeneration cycle, I didn't care about anything; I just ran. I ran so far and took body after body to keep myself hidden because..." The Master shallowed and forced a smile to the Doctor, "I was so scared."

Raising his eyes back to the Doctor, the Master shook his head, "Now old friend I have a question for you." The Master raised his chin appraisingly the Doctor, "What did it feel like Doctor? Two almighty civilizations burning at your hands." The Master almost smiled as his eyes glinted enjoying the darkness seeping into the Doctor's eyes. "Tell me how did that feel"  
"Stop it." The Doctor hissed causing Rose to grab his hand tightly, trying to let him know she was there. Rose stared at the Doctor, unwilling to look at the master who chuckled at the scene before him, a Time Lord being protected by a human.  
"You must have been like God." The Doctor couldn't respond as his hands fell helplessly to his sides, sliding from Rose's grasp. Gazing at him from his side Rose couldn't help but be afraid for her Doctor. Seeing this the Master smirked at Rose and then stuck out his bottom lip, faking sympathy, "Oh poor little Rosebud, did you know?" The Master's smile began to return, "Did you know that he killed his own planet, his friends, his family? Did you know that Rosebud or did he keep something as huge as that from you, to protect you?"

Summoning up all her courage Rose straightened up, took the Doctor's hand again and nodded,  
"Yes I did." The Master raised an eyebrow at her brave response. "I knew it for sure when I met the Dalek Emperor." Rose smirked back at the Master, feeling a bit braver, "You know the one you ran from." Tossing her hair Rose moved so she was right next to the Doctor. "I know what he is, who he is and what he's done Master and I don't doubt him. Never have and never will."

Martha ran over to Jack in the center of one of the city parks, handing him the large tube while several locals crowded around them. Grinning Jack gave Martha a wink as he poured more of the glistening powder into some other tubes. "What is that stuff Jack?" Looking at Martha Jack smirked,  
"That friend of mine well he works in explosives." He laughed as Martha's eyes widened.  
"What you think blowing up the city will solve the problem?!" The locals cooed behind them and drew back but Jack threw them a comforting smile before looking back at Martha.  
"Not exactly Martha Jones." Jack compressed the simmering powder more firmly into the tube. "And as much as I hate obvious puns, as soon as that last sun goes down, it is going to be a real blast compliments of yours truly"  
"Watch it Captain, don't give yourself too much credit now." Martha shot back only to have Jack give her a very interested look which made Martha draw back slightly.  
"Well Miss Jones, I may have to prove you wrong after all there are a lot of people who would swear by me"  
"Shows how much they know Captain." Jack grinned at her.  
"Oh I do love the Doctor's taste." Jack sighed heavily, "If only we didn't have a planet to save Martha." Martha raised one of her eyebrows.  
"You'd still have no chance Harkness"  
"I like challenges." Jack replied, picking up another container of the powder.  
"Ah so let me guess you're going after Rose and or the Doctor." Jack smirked and laughed as he assembled another explosive.  
"I said I enjoy challenges, but I know the impossible when I see it"  
"Yeah I can't see anything coming between those two." Martha leaned on the table Jack was working on. "So uh are they actually together." Jack looked up at her.  
"Sadly I don't think so but wait til you hear them argue over something, it's like they've been married for years"  
"Yeah first time I met the Doctor, he called Rose on my phone and I was sure that he was talking to his wife and mother-in-law." Jack chuckled adjusting a bit of the explosive.  
"Jackie is a piece of work, stick around and you may just meet the one thing the Doctor fears." Jack grinned and picked up the latest of the explosive tubes. "Alright then Martha Jones, the last sun will go down in about ten minutes, let's light this city up!"

The harsh silence generated by Rose's words to the Master was shattered when they heard several loud explosions overhead. Flickering the lights in the tunnel started to dim as another explosion's sound waves reached them underground. Then suddenly the lights went out, causing the Doctor to firmly grab Rose's hand and pull out his sonic screwdriver for light. A moment later, Rose realized the Doctor's hand to shift the manual in her arms and dig out her own sonic screwdriver. Unable to see clearly what she was doing, the Doctor blinked in surprise when a red light appeared next to him and he could see Rose grinning as a sonic screwdriver in her hand released light. "Rose where did you get that?" Rose grinned, her tongue slipping out between her teeth. "I'll tell you later." The Doctor looked back down the tunnel and growled, seeing that the Master was gone.  
"He's going back to his TARDIS, going to try and recharge it. Shouldn't be able to since I hope Jack is lighting things up for the locals." Rose nodded and then bit her lip.  
"What about me?" The Doctor frowned at her, "I mean what about the energy I released, it's part of one TARDIS could it switch on his." Eye widening the Doctor nodded before he and Rose rushed down the hall.

Martha laughed happily as the fireworks exploded above her, providing enough light that the locals weren't panicking. She could hear the soft pleased coos around her as more and more of them gathered in the park. A ways from the crowd Jack was kneeling on the ground as he lit another of his improvised fireworks with a small. "Pyromaniac Harkness?" Martha yelled to him over the explosions.  
"Hey this is saving these people." Jack defended, unable to keep the huge grin off his face. "And we did it all by ourselves. Score one for the companions." Chuckling Martha ran over to join Jack as he set off another one of the explosives.  
"Call it what you want, it's still you playing around. Boys and their toys." Jack smirked and looked over his shoulder at Martha.  
"I'll show you my real toys later if you want." Martha took a step back, holding up her hands.  
"I'll pass on that thanks." "I can wait." Jack replied with a shrug, "I've got time to convince you to cut lose."

Grinning the Master breathed deeply as he dashed into his laboratory at the sight of his TARDIS, which was currently in the form of a grey cupboard. He jerked open the door on the right side and stepped inside, grinning as he felt the hum of his time machine. "Hello there, I've missed you." He jumped to the controls and sealed the door to the TARDIS and the outside lab. "Seems that little Rosebud of the Doctor's has more power than I thought. Excellent."

The Doctor and Rose had to stop when the heavy metal door dropped in front of them, using the sonic screwdriver the Doctor struggled to open the door but nothing happened. "Let me guess deadlock sealed?" Rose asked as the lights flickered around them and she flipped open her manual to the index. A smile spread over her face when she read the entry on deadlocks for her sonic screwdriver. Stepping in front of the surprised and interested Doctor, Rose adjusted her sonic screwdriver to setting 2E and ran it down the lock. The door swung open and the Doctor gave her a grin before rushing inside only to stop in front of the Master's TARDIS. "A cupboard"  
"His TARDIS." Rose nodded slowly and circled it slowly before forcing a smile to the Doctor.  
"Stick with the police box." She jumped back to the Doctor's side when the Master's voice was broadcast in the room.  
"Bravo Doctor, you haven't lost your touch. According to my reading, the locals didn't release any energy so your fly boy and the other girl must have done their jobs. Your taste is improving although Miss Grant was pretty cute." The Master laughed as the Doctor tried to open the door. "I'll see you soon Doctor, take care of Rosebud." Rose took the Doctor's hand as the Master's TARDIS flashed and dematerialized and the Doctor sighed.

After a moment the Doctor looked down at Rose, noting the circles under her eyes and her unease on her feet. "I'm so sorry Rose." He cupped her cheek gently and Rose gave a half sob before leaning against him, finally letting the memories and pain of the last few hours out, giving up on being brave. Without saying a word, the Doctor gently wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his chest as he felt the Master grow farther and farther away in the vastness of his mind. Pulling away slowly Rose shook her head and forced a laugh.  
"Bet I look horrid, no wash off mascara my foot. I can practical feel it running down my face."

A few minutes later Jack and Martha say the Doctor and Rose join the large group in the park. Handing the controls to Martha, Jack rushed over to Rose kissing her softly before pulling her close to him. Rose returned the hug trying not to start crying while Martha looked on while lighting the fireworks. Looking up at the bright sky the Doctor smiled at her and nodded before looking at his watch. Spotting his action Martha called over, "Please tell a sun will come out soon, we're running low." Grinning at her the Doctor waved his hand and one of the smaller suns began to emerge from behind one of the planets moons, lighting the area that had been covered in darkness. Sighing in relief Martha put down the controls as the Trifictornians cheered and floated about as if dancing. Joining the group quickly, Martha frowned at the sight of Rose who saw the look. "Do I really look that bad?" Martha gave her fellow time traveler a smile and shook her head before hugging Rose herself.  
"No Rose, all things considered you look amazing." Jack and the Doctor smiled as they watched the girls until Jack turned to the Doctor.  
"How come you never show me affection like that"  
"Self preservation Captain"  
"That hurt Doctor." Jack laughed as he looked at them. "Back together at last!" Then he took Martha's hand and kissed it, "With a charming new addition."

The Doctor shook his head at his companions as they entered the TARDIS and Rose tossed her coat over the rail, a suit which Jack and Martha followed. "Jack will you help Martha find a room?" Jack grinned and Martha blinked,  
"I thought I got one trip." The Doctor nodded,  
"This trip didn't count I owe you something fun and safe." He paused before grinning, "I know, the Myscganian fireworks show of 5671"  
"Hey we worked hard on that show outside." Jack protested and the Doctor nodded,  
"True but you're hardly professionals." Martha laughed and cut Jack off as he opened his mouth to reply to the Doctor,  
"Sounds good but are you sure it is safe to let him know where my room is"  
"I'll be a prefect gentleman." Jack assured her with a charming smile, "At least until you beg me not to be." With that he grabbed the flushing Martha's arm and pulled her into the TARDIS halls. Rose covered her mouth to keep from laughing but couldn't hide the smile.

Rose's smile faded as she looked back at the Doctor, the normal forced manic grin had vanished replaced with a openly sorrowful and pained expression that darkened his eyes. Stepping forward Rose took his hand with hers only to be pulled into a tight hug that surprised her as the air was pushed out of her lungs. Breathing in deeply Rose shoved the pain in her bruised sides to the back of her mind as the Doctor held her tightly to reassure himself of her presence. Closing her eyes, Rose returned the embrace and softly whispered as she tried to keep from crying, "I'm here Doctor. I'm right here. We're in the TARDIS, we're home." Rose ran her hands over his back, trying to comfort him.  
"This shouldn't have happened to you." His grip softened but only a small amount as he remembered her injured ribs but he still didn't look at her face. "The Master, Daleks, Racnoss, the Beast..." He trailed off and swallowed, "You just get hurt, it's selfish of me to have you stay. It's my fault you're trapped with me because of the Bad Wolf. I did this to you. And today against one of my own kind I couldn't even save you." Rose's eyes closed in emotional pain as his voice lost strength.

Pulling away from the Doctor, Rose breathed deeply to calm herself and looked right at him. "I'm staying right here Doctor." The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but Rose spoke again touching his lips with her finger to keep him silent, "I walked into this with my eyes wide open, I knew what I was getting into. I'm not staying here because of the Bad Wolf Doctor, I'm staying because this is where I want to be." Removing her finger and exhaling softly Rose softened her tone hoping he would understand what she was really trying to tell him without using the words she really wanted to say to him, "I made that choice a long time ago and I'm never gonna leave you."

For the next long moment there was only the sound of the TARDIS' gentle humming as the Doctor gaped at Rose unable to vocalize any of the thoughts running through his head. Finally he straightened up, releasing her arms, "Rose I..." The Doctor fell silent as his ability to speak seemed to vanished and shook his head slowly, sighing as Rose forced a smile to her face. "Besides you did save me today Doctor." Tossing her hair she dug into her pocket and pulled out her new sonic screwdriver, holding it up for him to see. "Gave me my own sonic screwdriver an' everything."

Returning from the room search Martha Jones shook her head in sheer amazement at the two people in front of her, this was rapidly proving to be more entertaining than the telly programs her sister-in-law liked to watch. Glancing at Jack Harkness she chuckled seeing a similar grin on his face, sensing her eyes he gave her a roguish wink that made Martha lower her face in embarrassment. Laughing Jack looked back at Rose and the Doctor to see him examining her new sonic screwdriver and comparing it to his own. "It's so sweet." Martha commented next to Jack drawing the attention of the Doctor and Rose who hadn't noticed they were back, "His and her's sonic screwdrivers." Grinning at the scowling Doctor, Jack put his arm around Martha's shoulders.  
"Martha Jones I like you"  
"You're not so bad yourself Captain Jack Harkness"  
"Enough with the flirting." The Doctor muttered to them.  
"Yeah like you and Rose never flirt." Jack shot back making the Doctor scowl even more.

When we return next ▒season': Looking Glass I

Final Note: Wow the third season is complete!! The next book "season" The Name of the Universe will begin hopefully on September 17th after I do some rewriting on the other two books and finish Key to Time. The next season will defiantly include rewrites of Shakespeare Code and Human Nature/Family of Blood and will see the return of the fantastic Simm Master and another old enemy! Please please let me know if there is an episode you want rewritten or if you have suggestions on what era to use for Human Nature with the ninth Doctor and remember to review the story!!! 


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